Military pension policies are as old as the republic itself and reside at the intersection of American social, economic, and defense policy. But as the nation’s social and economic circumstances underwent dramatic changes over the last half century, military pension policy remained static, stuck in the personnel and retirement model of the industrial age. This book examines why. Integrating policy history, theory, and practice, Twenty Years of Service provides the most comprehensive examination of US military pension policy in a generation. Brandon J. Archuleta sets the stage with an exploration of the rise, evolution, and transformation of the veterans’ policy subsystem from the American Revolution through World War II. The ensuing theoretical overview explains how the military personnel policy subsystem achieved the autonomy it enjoyed from 1948 to 2018; it also offers a new perspective on autonomous policy subsystems in general, which helps to account for the long-term pension policy stasis. In practical terms, Archuleta explores the role of the successful 2015 Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission as an institutional venue for policy change during the congressional budget battles of the 2010s. Through extensive archival research, illustrative case studies, and field interviews with Pentagon bureaucrats, congressional staffers, veterans’ lobbyists, defense scholars, and journalists, Twenty Years of Service brings the policymaking process to life. Its insights will prove invaluable to policy scholars and defense practitioners alike.

Scholars have argued about U.S. state development - in particular its laggard social policy and weak institutional capacity - for generations. Neo-institutionalism has informed and enriched these debates, but, as yet, no scholar has reckoned with a very successful and sweeping social policy designed by the federal government: the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the GI Bill. Kathleen J. Frydl addresses the GI Bill in the first study based on systematic and comprehensive use of the records of the Veterans Administration. Frydl's research situates the Bill squarely in debates about institutional development, social policy and citizenship, and political legitimacy. It demonstrates the multiple ways in which the GI Bill advanced federal power and social policy, and, at the very same time, limited its extent and its effects.

An official, up-to-date government manual that covers everything from VA life insurance to survivor benefits. Veterans of the United States armed forces may be eligible for a broad range of benefits and services provided by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). If you’re looking for information on these benefits and services, look no further than the newest edition of Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents, and Survivors. The VA operates the nation’s largest health-care system, with more than 1,700 care sites available across the country. These sites include hospitals, community clinics, readjustment counseling centers, and more. In this book, those who have honorably served in the active military, naval, or air service will learn about the services offered at these sites, basic eligibility for health care, and more. Helpful topics described in depth throughout these pages for veterans, their dependents, and their survivors include: Vocational rehabilitation and employment VA pensions Home loan guaranty Burial and memorial benefits Transition assistance Dependents and survivors health care and benefits Military medals and records And more