Home  About  Chapters  Policy  Publications  Join  Jobs  Donate  Blog  Students mingle at the Roosevelt Policy Expo 2007 News from the National Office Post-Election Center TI Launched Roosevelt LiveBlogs the Presidential Debate On Campus Midwest Regional Fall Policy Workshop Blum speaks at Vermont Campus Compact conference Coverage of the Johns Hopkins Chapter Launch > More "This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in." — Teddy Roosevelt    Supporting our Troops - GI Bill 2.0 > Roosevelt Home > Roosevelt Challenges > Supporting our Troops - GI Bill 2.0 By Kai H Stinchcombe Categories: International security, Public health The Challenge: support America's veterans in the way they deserve Important Progressive: accomplishing this challenge will contribute directly and specifically to the progressive values embodied by Roosevelt's Statement of Principles Meaningful: our contribution to this challenge will produce a real change in the lives of our fellow human beings. One can imagine a world in which the challenge is solved, and such a world is better than the one we live in today. Relevant: the challenge is relevant to the social contract project that Roosevelt has embarked upon 1.5 million Americans have served abroad in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001. How we treat these troops is important to our values not just because of what it would mean to the soldiers and their families, but also because of what it means about our country. After our troops have served, is all our talk of supporting them empty rhetoric -- politicians wrapping themselves in the flag as ordinary Americans give everything and get nothing back -- or are we going to actually dedicate ourselves to honoring the sacrifice these soldiers have made? Innovative We're looking for policy challenges where innovation is needed: where there isn't already a clear solution or best practices, but solutions can be developed creatively. Our goal is to develop options, not to lobby or advocate for a solution that is already known or to debate among several yes or no outcomes or pre-defined policy choices. Other organizations do the important work of debating and lobbying, that's just not our place in the process. Typically if you're looking at a standard policy debate you can apply what's known as the "Roosevelt Reframe" to develop new strategies to advance shared values. So rather than "should we engage in race-based affirmative action in college admissions" to which the potential answers are "yes" and "no", you can ask "how do we make our colleges more diverse", a goal we hope is shared by those on both sides of that debate. Many new issues are presented by veterans returning home from Iraq. For one thing, battlefield medicine has improved and more soldiers are surviving injuries that would once have killed them -- leading to a historically unheard-of 10 to 1 casualty to fatality ratio. Those that do not suffer physical trauma may have mental traumas such as post-traumatic stress disorder, as a result of multiple terms of counter-insurgency warfare and constant surprise attacks from every angle. These returning soldiers will need a lifetime of medical and social support. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, VoteVets, and other organizations are doing new and exciting work. They have built new political power but have not yet developed a full policy agenda and it is certain our help would prove useful. As Theda Skocpol has noted, innovative social programs are often pioneered to support soldiers, who society rightly sees as deserving of social benefits not given to the ordinary citizen. In proposing innovative ideas to support our troops, we are also potentially sketching out the future of social policy in America -- because our soldiers deserve better than they're getting right now, but so do ordinary Americans. This is an incredibly high-profile issue with political legs and we could be a dominant force in the field. Feasible Approachable: given the level of research and discourse already available and given who else is working on the issue, college students with a range of experience levels and with varied types of expertise can contribute meaningfully to the debate and are likely to think of good ideas. We don't want something so technical only engineering majors can contribute to it, or something that is already dominated by another think tank or advocacy organization. Practical: the challenge is stated as a specific, measurable, and achievable goal, incremental progress toward which could be made by chipping away at the problem at various levels of government. The statement is not too broad or too narrow. One good way to make sure something is a good policy challenge rather than a debate or advocacy problem is to think of what sorts of innovative ideas might be produced for the 25 ideas publication series on that topic. Potential avenues for policy innovation include Free higher education and vocational training Guaranteed loans / small business start-up help Citizenship processes for soldiers and veterans Mental health infrastructure within the VA New leave structures to reduce stress on military families Extension of benefits to spouses and children Coordination between VA and other public health infrastructure Troop protection standards and safety gear for in the field Standardized voting rights for troops serving abroad Civil rights, gay rights, religious freedom, abortion rights in the military The military as a ladder to the middle class Regulations on abusive practices to military families (akin to payday loan legislation -- look at mortgages, credit card stuff, bankruptcy, etc.) Comments Kyle Atwell, Sun 8 Jul 10:11 pm PST: Protecting and taking care of our troops is clearly a priority worth considering. I am concerned this topic may be too narrow though, both in the fact that we are dealing with a limited group of people (the troops), and a lot of (though certainly not all) the policy ideas may be limited to the federal government, while I think Roosevelt has an advantage in local and state level policy. Kai H Stinchcombe, Mon 9 Jul 9:39 am PST: That's actually a great point, Kyle. Though I've heard there is a really amazing piece in the 25 ideas about supporting national guard troops, directed at state legislatures. But I think you're right that that's the exception, not the rule...   The Roosevelt Institution is a nonpartisan, nonprofit national think tank devoted to bringing students' policy ideas to the policy process. The opinions expressed on this site are exclusively those of its members. DC Headquarters: Roosevelt Institution / 2100 M St NW Suite 610 / Washington, DC 20037 || (202) 833-1359