Officials plan cuts to free up tuition cash

[unhappycamper]

The Navy’s top training officer will close some Navy College Offices and learning centers around the fleet, cut contracted employees and consolidate many services in a move designed to keep tuition money available to sailors.


Officials plan cuts to free up tuition cash
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jun 20, 2010 9:17:30 EDT

The Navy’s top training officer will close some Navy College Offices and learning centers around the fleet, cut contracted employees and consolidate many services in a move designed to keep tuition money available to sailors.

Already, education officials have moved the tuition assistance approval process online; in July, they’ll open a Virtual Education Center in Dam Neck, Va., for sailors to call from around the fleet to get help.

“We took a healthy cut in our TA budget this year,” said Rear Adm. Joe Kilkenny, head of Navy Education and Training Command, which runs the Navy’s voluntary education programs. “I want to make sure we’re putting the vast amount of our resources in ensuring the sailors are getting the education they want.”

This year’s initial tuition assistance budget is $83.8 million, a $12.8 million cut from the fiscal 2009 budget. As of June 5, sailors had spent $70 million, causing officials to add $5 million to the account.

“Based on this burn rate, I think we’re in very good shape through August,” Kilkenny said, adding that an additional $5 million could be made available if needed.



unhappycamper comment: Fortunately the School of the Americas, now known as the 'Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation' is probably not going to lose any of its budget.

What is the SOA?

The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation,” is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Initially established in Panama in 1946, it was kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, stated that the School of the Americas was the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.” The SOA, frequently dubbed the “School of Assassins,” has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.

Over its 59 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins.


It appears that some South American leaders have already pulled out of SOA --> http://www.soaw.org/about-the-soawhinsec/history

Take a look at the web site. It's a pretty good synopsis of what's going on there.