The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-10-01

WASHINGTON = I've been get ting some inquiries lately about vo- cational training for disabled ex- service people, so I had to investl- gate. What I found out I'll put down here; so, if anyone reads this stuff, he'll get an idea of the dis tinction between education or train ing under the CT Bill of Rights and the Vocational Rehabilitation Pro- gram that's been set up under Public l6-A78th Congress.
 It doesn't seem possible, but over six months have filed by in this procession of articles since detailed the GI Bills provisions for the edu- cation or training of all eligible vet erans-whether disabled or not.
 And that remark gets me to the main difference between training under the GI Bill or under Public 16. Any qualified veteran can get training under the GI Bill-dlsabled or not. But only veterans, disabled in the service in line of duty and III need of training to overcome the handicap of that disability, can get the advantages of Public 16.
 We all know there are plenty of these disabled men. The last figure I saw showed nearly 450,000 disabled veterans had been sent applications for vocational rehabilitation. That's an important section of our big Group of ex-Global War service people. :,
 Naturally all of us feel a disabled man should get better break m training or education than the av- craze veteran. And he does-in sev- eral ways.
 Although Public l6 is itself called a Law. it really is an amendment to a law. Public 16 did two things if added a new subsection to a law approved in 13 and it added a new part to a Veterans Regulation.
 There's no need to write about the old law or the old Veterans Regu- lation because I'd get so mixed up wouldn't be able to explain what C;lobal War disabled men are en- titled to. Also, it's only the new subsection and the new part that will affect ex-service men of this war.
 Subsection (O is the new one. It simply provides that any person who served in the active military or naval forces on or after Sept. 16, 1940 and before the termination of hostilities in the present war, is entitled to vo- cational rehabilitation. It then goes on to refer to Veterans Regulation, Part VII.
 So Part VII holds all the glamour for disabled Global War vets. AS 1t really is the whole works, concen- trated on it to discover who can get vocational rehabilitation-which means vocational training.
 It lines up this way; if you serv- ed in the Coast Guard, Marines, Army or Navy at any time after Sep tember l6, l940 and have been hon. orably discharged, you're over the first hurdle. The length of your ser vice doesn't have anything to do with it-it isn't mentioned in the law as a qualification. It can be one day, one week, one year-as long as it was after Sept. 16, 1940. Also notice that your discharge must be under conditions other than dis honorable.
 Next thing is. you must have a disability that you picked up in the service or one that was aggravated by your service. hope you haven't any. but it's a requirement. under Public l6.
 Further, the disability has to be had enough to make your disability rating at least 10 per cent so you're entitled to disability pension. If you're eligible for retirement pay, because of a disability, then your disability must be rated 10 per cent or more to make you eligible under Public 16.
 On top of all that any veteran to qualify for vocational rehabiita-