Another group of Wisconsin soldiers is back home, and there's something they might enjoy seeing almost as much as their families. The Madison-based unit just finished 14 months of active duty overseas, almost a year of which was in Afghanistan . That tour of duty was the first for Steven Holvenstot. Now that he's officially a veteran, he says he's fully aware of all the benefits available to him in the state of Wisconsin. "I am indeed. And I'm very happy about them."
Some of those benefits Holvenstot is looking forward to taking advantage of include 100% tuition remission with the new GI bill . "I signed the bill this last spring that says that all veterans in Wisconsin can now go to our technical colleges and our universities tuition-free," says Governor Jim Doyle , who signed the new GI bill into law this past Memorial Day with Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos by his side. Socos says educating our veterans is the least we could do to say thanks for their service to this country.
Darrell Scace is a also a new veteran who is looking forward to claiming his benefits. "We got back on the fourth of January and this last week we've had briefings and, so yeah, they went through all the benefits," he says, "35 years old (and I'm) going back to school."
Scocos says our state's Mission Welcome Home program reintegrates veterans back into the community with health benefits, low-cost loans, property tax credits and home loans. Veterans should contact their county veterans service office .