Bucks
Dan Ryan GI bill Compulsory Service
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Last week, I rowed with Dan Ryan, the son of Benita and Ted Ryan of the New Hope area, and learned accidentally about his ideas concerning compulsory service. He’s on his way to Houston Texas to start an engineering career with Lockheed Martin.
Before I begin, let me point out that I’m a fan of compulsory service. One of my Upper Bucks readers becomes quite piqued whenever I broach the subject. I’m certain that he’ll chime in quickly after he reads this.
Dan Ryan is a very bright and adventurous young man…so is his older brother Alex. Both graduated from Lawrenceville School and Duke University. Alex works for the state department and is stationed in Nigeria…not exactly the safest spot in the world. Before Dan began his studies at Duke, he took a year working his way around the world. It was an invaluable experience. Dan graduated from Duke in May.
He gets his daring ways from his mother. Anyone in the performing and non performing arts world in this region knows her reputation. Benita was the former Executive Director of the Riverside Symphonia. It was her drive and personality, which helped to put the Symphonia on the map. Dan told me that she’s in Italy assisting an opera company that trains promising singers. Last year, Benita became an expert tango dancer in South America. She’s perky and absolutely unafraid of anything.
Whenever Dan is in the area, he calls me for sculling on the Schuylkill River. While that’s fun and good exercise, the breakfast that follows is worth the price of admission. That’s where I received an update on the Ryan family and what his assignment at Lockheed will be.
Dan’s one of about 40 young college grads who is starting out in engineering for the giant company. Members of his team will design the Orion crew exploration vehicle to prepare for missions to the moon and beyond. Dan likens it to the Apollo space capsule only much more advanced.
After our row, I treated him to a giant breakfast. He’s a champion eater but he doesn’t gain weight. Tall and lean, he has red hair and an impish smile…ladies, he’s very good looking.
I told him
that I’d just finished Edward Humes book, “Over Here,” the story about how the
G.I. Bill transformed the American Dream. The book’s cover tells all. “In 1944
the
“Instead, quite by accident, it transformed America. The G.I. Bill made homeowners, college graduates, professionals, rocket scientists, and a booming middle class out of a Depression-era generation that never expected such opportunity. The Greatest Generation would not exist without it.”
The new G.I. Bill, the so-called “Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, boasts of the most comprehensive education benefits package since the original 1944 version. Anyone who’s served the military for 36 months will receive 100 percent tuition and fees at their state university, plus monthly housing and a stipend of up to $1,000 a year for books and supplies. The benefits are pegged to the number of months served. The smallest benefit is 40 percent for those who served only 90 days. The program begins in August 2009.
What was fascinating to me was that President Bush threatened to veto the bill because the Pentagon convinced him that it would hasten an exodus from the military’s ranks. What utter nonsense. But it passed through congress with veto proof margins so the President signed it.
It’s amazing how the military often gets things wrong. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, it opposed equal opportunities for minorities and women. It still objects to gays although that arcane notion is finally beginning to weaken.
But I stray.
I wanted to know how Dan Ryan would react to Edward Humes thoughts about national service? Humes believes that a national service corp. would train young people… then assign them to tours of duty as teaching assistants, literacy instructors, math tutors, nursing-home aides, Peace Corp volunteers, park service workers…and yes, the military, at the young person’s option.
Yes it would be expensive. “But it wouldn’t cost any more than the war in Iraq has cost, and probably a good deal less, with far more tangible benefits,” Humes added.
Congressman Patrick Murphy told me months ago that he’d keep an open mind about national service. He hasn’t said no…but he hasn’t said yes either.
I’ll revisit this subject one day soon. National service is about the public will…yours and mine. Dan Ryan had some reservations about how to organize and finance such a vast program. But I think he realizes that America would be a lot better off if every young person had a few years of public service…either non military or military, at her/his option…before they went off to work or college.
And there’s no doubt in my mind that America wouldn’t be so cavalier at starting wars if politicians knew that, with compulsory service, their own children or their relatives’ children would be in the thick of battle.
Stay tuned.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith