Many retired veterans had the opportunity to transfer their education benefits under the GI Bill to family members, but were not aware they could do so, and missed their opportunity. Now they are asking Congress for another opportunity to make that happen. Neither the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), nor the Department of Defense (DoD) support the push for the second opportunity.
It took the DoD and the VA 1 year to develop a plan allowing the transfer of benefits to happen, and that plan was implemented on August 1, 2009. To share benefits, military personnel were forced to sign a new 4-year commitment to the military, but those veterans qualifying for retirement were given special leeway if they were still serving.
Soldiers who retired prior to the 2009 date also felt they were unfairly denied the ability to transfer their rights to GI Bill benefits. On the other end, soldiers who retired post-implementation date are crying foul at how poorly the VA and the DoD explained the program. According to them, it is only now becoming known the transfer of rights had to happen prior to official retirement.
The DoD insists everything that had to be known about transferring these rights was given to the soldiers, and points to page 17 of a DoD policy document numbering 29 pages. At issue are 3 years of tax-free education time for retirees' children.
The House Veterans' Affairs Committee is currently faced with pending legislation providing the soldiers' sought after second chance. The benefit can only be granted to those who did not transfer prior to retirement, however, if there is a way to pay for that transfer.
Category: Veterans' Disability
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Soldiers can return home with a number of conditions, injuries, and aggravated preexisting conditions. If you believe you have a service-connected physical or psychological injury you may be entitled to Veterans’ Disability Compensation.