COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Leaving Military: Veterans
DoD Changes Reserve GI Bill Policy
MILITARY.COM
March 14, 2007
Last month Military.com reported that some citizen Soldiers were being misled about their GI Bill benefits.
At the time, the Pentagon was telling National Guard and Reserve
members that they would lose eligibility for continued GI Bill benefits
once they stopped drilling - a policy that differed from the Department
of Veteran's Affairs interpretation of the eligibility laws.
The problem stemmed from a Pentagon misinterpretation of the Reserve
Education Assistance Program laws. Also known as REAP, this GI Bill
program makes Guard and Reserve troops returning from combat service
eligible for education payments similar to active duty troops.
Through discussions with VA officials, National Association of Veterans
Program Administrators president Jack Mordente discovered that REAP
recipients are eligible to revert back to the original Reserve GI Bill
- known as MGIB-SR - upon discharge from paid drill status. This allows
such troops to use their MGIB-SR entitlement for the number of months
they were activated, plus four additional months. Mordente also found
that multiple periods of activation could be added together to increase
the extension.
"State and unit-level military leaders and school veterans' counselors
don't know the facts because the VA and the Department of Defense have
not made the legal rights of these war veterans widely known," Mordente
said. Mordente's efforts helped bring the issue to light and prompted
the VA to change its website to reflect the correct information.
However, the Pentagon was steadfast in their interpretation of the law,
leading Selected Reserve members to believe they lost GI Bill benefits
when they stopped drilling.
Military.com has learned that on February 15, Tom Bush, DoD General
Counsel, stated that the DoD now concurs with the VA's interpretation
the MGIB-SR extension rules. In addition Keith Wilson, Director of
Benefits for the VA, testified before the House Armed Services
Committee on February 27 that "there is no current disagreement"
between the Pentagon and the VA's interpretation of the policy.
It is still unclear if Defense officials plan to contact the thousands
of veterans who lost their benefits as a result of the Pentagon error.
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