I Rejoined the Army in 1991 and Retired in 2005, Which Benefits Am I Eligible For?

Hi Mike,  You may be in the unique position of being eligible for 3 different GI Bill programs due to the period your active duty service spanned.  Your initial period of active duty may have entitled you to the VEAP GI Bill benefits.  In order to be eligible for those benefits you would have had to have opened a VEAP account, and for every $1 you contributed the Army would have contributed $2.

Your second period on active duty could have entitled you to the Montgomery GI Bill, if you elected to enroll in it when you came back onto active duty.  And because you served after 2001, you are eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill.  The Post 9/11 GI Bill is the only program that is automatic, the other 2 you would have had to elect to participate in.

If you are eligible for the other 2 programs, when you decide to use your benefits you must decide which program will best suit your purposes, as you can only use one program at a time, and you only get the maximum number of months of benefits available through one of the programs.  The exception would be if you elected to use all of your Montgomery GI Bill benefits, which would be 36 months, and then you could still have 12 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.

Each program is a little different, so depending on what your education goals are, one might work better for you that the others, if you are eligible for all three.  But even if you did not participate in VEAP and the Montgomery GI Bill, you should be eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

Unfortunately, none of the programs will allow you to transfer benefits to a family member.  The only program that allows that is the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and the transfer of benefits provision is only for service members who were on active duty as of 1 August 2009, or who have come onto active duty since then.  I suggest you try the Army Emergency Relief, they have some education benefits programs that your family member may be eligible for.  You might also check with your state’s Department of Veterans Affairs office, and the financial aid offices at various schools, as they sometimes are aware of programs for the dependents of veterans.