I am a Veteran. From one Veteran to another, thank you for your service. That is about the only nice thing I am going to say.
So, apparently you never heard that old saying: "If you don't have anything nice to say..."
As a Veteran, I would never expect a company to be unprofitable, or even less profitable, just to serve me. That is the very freedom I fought to protect.
Do you believe in the freedom of speech? ...the 1st amendment? ...because that's one the freedoms that
I fought to protect. When a company goes out of their way to be anti-veteran, I have the right to ask them why (even if they refuse to answer the question). I know it's
trendy in certain political circles to be anti-government these days but that doesn't mean that a company has the right to discriminate against veterans because we pay our bills a different way. It's no different than if ATP decided not to take scholarships from the UNCF, or if a restaurant chose not to allow black people into their establishment; can they do it...? Maybe. Are there consequences...? Certainly!
The bottom line is the VA has been difficult about dealing with flight schools for training at all. The current programs ATP offers cannot be financed by $17k a year because they run much shorter than that. I believe, and this is just me paying attention, they gave a solid go at using the GI bill and it just kept blowing up at them., because they DID offer a part 141 VA approved class for a while. They even had a "bridge loan" to pay the gap in training.
...under previous GI Bill rules, many years ago (you left that part out). The rules have changed and if they don't they don't want to help us, that's fine! Just know that I have the right to single them out for it (like I'm doing now). They can make all the "excuses" and quibble all they want to; they can even let others (like you) make excuses and quibble for them but that doesn't get them off the hook with me. I have the right to call them on it and keep them honest.
The organization you should be mad at is the VA. They are the ones that are bending you over. Write letters to your congress. Heck, when I used my GI Bill for college, the money never arrived until the 3rd month, forcing me to borrow money from questionable individuals just to pay the bursar, because even the college would not wait for the VA. Fight the government that is not giving you what they promised, not the America you fought to keep free.
Ahhh yes; the old
"government is evil and bad and I should blame it all on them" argument. In contrast to ATP, the VA personnel have been very helpful to me. They have answered all of my questions, returned all of my phone calls and even offered local alternatives to ATP. All ATP does is transfer me to one of their know-nothing operators who have given me nothing but misinformation and continue to send me junk mail and spam.
Personally, I don't really care anymore. I've found a few other schools to use my GI bill with. I just think it's an outrage for ATP to give the veterans the shaft like they're doing. Apparently, the ATP Kool-aid was to your liking, so I'm glad their program worked out for you. I'm not going to let them off the hook that easily.
...and thank you for your service as well.
