More Veterans Speak Out After VA Says It Won't Pay For Flight School

<p>News 9 is hearing from more veterans who attend flight schools in Oklahoma.&nbsp;</p>

Saturday, October 22nd 2016, 10:31 pm

By: News 9


News 9 is hearing from more veterans who attend flight schools in Oklahoma. 

Last week, veterans were notified that the VA was no longer going to be picking up their tabs for flight school, which runs around $10,000 per semester.  

And here’s the rub, according to Honoring America’s Warriors Executive Director Scotty Dee, the four flight schools in Oklahoma are the only flight schools in America that are being affected in this way. 

On Friday, News 9 reported that at least 19 University of Oklahoma flight school students got their notice last week

Oklahoma’s Veteran Affairs is referring all questions to another state office. 

The Executive Director of that office Friday emailed News 9 a long statement. It said the funding is coming to an end because of abuses discovered in the system a year ago. 

That email clearly lays the responsibility for these cuts with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. They have an office in Muskogee which presides over 19 states, including Oklahoma.  

Dee said it doesn’t make sense, because none of the “egregious” violations occurred at any of Oklahoma’s four flight schools.

“Essentially what they are doing is trying to kill a fly with a shotgun,” he said. “I understand it’s expensive tuition, but nonetheless, they made a promise to those guys, and they need to keep it.” 

Air Force veteran Daniel Hall, 31, has a wife and five children, and is only three semesters away from graduating from OU flight school.  

He said the VA has let him and his family down.

“All they care about is the bottom line, and they don’t care about the sacrifices we made. They don’t care about the way we’ve held our end of the bargain. They just want to find a way to weasel out of theirs,” he said.  

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