Archive for February, 2010

Hi Naomi, Congratulations on a great career!  Your career has spanned a few GI Bill programs.  Initially you would have been eligible for the Vietnam Era Veterans GI Bill.  Service members and veterans who still had Vietnam Era Veterans GI Bill benefits remaining in 1989, had those benefits switched over to the Montgomery GI Bill.  After the Vietnam Era Veterans GI Bill, the Veterans Educational Assistance Program (VEAP) came into being.  This GI Bill program required that service members enroll in it, and contribute part of their pay into the program.  For every dollar that you contributed, the government contributed 2 dollars.  If you don’t recall enrolling in VEAP, and contributing part of your pay, then you probably are not eligible for it.

After VEAP came the Montgomery GI Bill, which your Vietnam Era Veterans Benefits would have been converted to.  Then came the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which service members became eligible for if they served on active duty for at least 90 days after 10 September 2001, and they became eligible for the full benefits if they served 36 months on active duty after 10 September 2001.

The way I see it, you have 3 options that you can choose from.  You are eligible for the full 36 months of benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill, or veterans who were eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill, and who also became eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, are allowed to convert their Montgomery GI Bill benefits to the Post 9/11 GI Bill.  So you could do that, and have 36 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.  You should do a comparison between the 2 GI Bills to see which one would provide you the most benefits for whatever education program you are considering.

Your third option, since you are eligible for both the Montgomery GI Bill and a portion of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, is to use your 36 months of Montgomery GI Bill benefits, and then you should still have 12 months of  80 percent of your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.  I say 80 percent because, even though you became eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you did not serve 36 months on active duty after 10 September 2001, you served 28 months, which entitled you to 80 percent of the Post 9/11.

All of this is based on you not having any VEAP benefits, and that you have not already used any GI Bill benefits.  So to summarize, you have 36 months of Montgomery GI Bill benefits which must be used within 10 years of your leaving active duty, or you can convert to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and have 36 months of benefits which must be used within 15 years of leaving active duty.  And if you stay with the Montgomery GI Bill, after you have used up your 36 months of benefits, you should be eligible for an additional 12 months of benefits, which would be 80 percent of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.  You may also combine Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits with the benefits you may receive at Yellow Ribbon Program schools. 

Hopefully I didn’t make this too confusing, you can find additional information on the links I provided.  Good Luck, and again, congratulations on a great career.