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I hate playing the veteran card, but after I saw Rep. Jared Golden’s thoughts on student loan forgiveness I feel the need to call something to his attention. A big part of the reason I served was to pay for school. I am the oldest of four and while my parents did well for themselves they would have needed to take out some pretty massive loans to get all of us through school.
Coming out of high school into a recession also shaped my goals for the future and led to me enlisting in the Navy. After I came off active duty I was able to use my GI Bill to finish my BA as well as complete a Master of Arts in Teaching at the University of Maine without taking on much debt.
When federal student loan forgiveness became a possibility I was not upset like Golden was, but happy for my friends and family who had taken on that debt and would no longer have to deal with the stress and anxiety it causes. The people who took out these loans are not making the six figures that Golden claims but are nurses, teachers, therapists, and other jobs whose only purpose is to help the people around them.
I did not serve to make things more difficult for the people around me. I also recognize that just because someone didn’t serve in the military it doesn’t mean they are not serving in their community now. The direct effect that college graduates have in their community is much greater than any effect my service had on the same people. If the goal is to make Maine better than it was yesterday then directly helping the people working to do so seems like a no-brainer to me.
Jordan Simpson
Old Town