Just Shoot Me

When more than 1,100 members of the Minnesota National Guard's Red Bull Brigade returned home last month, they had the distinction of having served the longest consecutive tour since the war's start in 2003.

The guard members had each served between 718 and 729 days. The soldiers were conspicuously close to the 730 days a soldier is required to serve before the GI Bill kicks in, providing vets extra cash—between $500 and $800 a month—for school.

But there would be no money. 729 days was not 730 days, and that, it seemed, was that.

Then the Minnesota Congressional Delegation stepped in. Sen. Norm Coleman told NBC it was "simply irresponsible to deny education benefits to those soldiers who just completed the longest tour of duty of any unit in Iraq."

Retired Command Sgt. Major Tim Walz, now Congressman Tim Walz, made the most noise. He was instrumental in passing a resolution commending the service of the brigade best known as the first division deployed to Europe in World War II. Next Walz announced his sponsorship of the Support for Injured Servicemembers Act, which would amend the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide six months' unpaid leave for those burdened with an injured and unemployed soldier.

He struck at the GI Bill issue directly when he asked the storied congressman and war critic Jack Murtha to call General Richard Cody, the Army vice chief of staff, and make something happen.

Something did happen: Last week, Walz announced that Gen. Cody agreed to send a team to Minnesota to "further address and continue to rectify the situation."

Until the situation is completely "rectified," City Pages has a message for Minnesota college students (the ones who haven't been to the war and back): We declare the month of October "Take a Soldier to Class Month."

Somebody's got to support the troops, right? At least that's what the president says.