VA Loan Updates

Author creates book of encyclopedic info for troops and retirees.

When Johnny and Jenny come marching home from military service, they must first take a side trip through daylong sessions to learn about what’s expected of them as veterans.

More importantly, they get the lowdown on benefits due them for serving their country.
Booklets, pamphlets, papers by the pile, forms to fill out and a myriad of tasks form a final wall at the end of their military life — one last obstacle to mount and leap over into civilian living.

Once they’re over that wall, all those papers and booklets and such seem to get lost in drawers, thrown out or otherwise abandoned.

So where does the veteran turn to when he needs medical care?

How does she apply for a VA loan to buy her first home?

What about military discounts?

Can they take advantage of the GI Bill?

“Taking advantage” is the watchword in a book written by Christopher P. Michel, founder and president of the Web site military.com.

“The Military Advantage: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Military & Veterans Benefits” is a one-stop shopping encyclopedia for the troops — those still in the service, and those who have retired and moved on.

Local filmmaker and historian Lou Reda of Easton has supported the book.

“It’s already in its fourth printing,” Reda says.

It even offers special benefit updates for troops involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“Comprehensive” in its subtitle is an understatement. Benefits and information potentially touching every aspect of a vet’s life can be found in the 389-page book. From money issues such as “military pay” and “dealing with debt” to “social services” and “the military child,” the book leaves few stones unturned when it comes to helping veterans, and those still in the service.

It’s not a page-turner in the tradition of the suspenseful and gripping tale found in “The Da Vinci Code.” And there are no photos. This book is an immense, how-to instruction manual, boring if read cover-to-cover.

The instructions, at first blush, are formidable. Every page is full of advice, with boxes containing additional info for each chapter.

In the book’s foreword, G. V. “Sonny” Montgomery, a retired National Guardsman and member of Congress from 1967 to 1997, authored the 1981 Montgomery GI Bill. He offers an example of why Michel’s book is important:

“More than 2.5 million people have used the Montgomery GI Bill to continue their education. But today only about half of those eligible for the GI Bill use it, and many other benefits also go unused — because veterans are not aware of them or do not know how to use them.”

Michel writes in his introduction that the book is an outgrowth of his Web site, which he created “with one mission in mind: to connect service members, veterans and their families to all the benefits earned in service to America.”

Found here.

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