DOCKET NUMBER: `1 
COUNSEL:  NONE 
HEARING DESIRED:  NO 

                       RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 
         AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS 
 
IN THE MATTER OF: 
 
   
   
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
THE APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: 
 
He  be  allowed  to  transfer  his  Post  9/11  GI  Bill  educational 
benefits to his dependents. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
THE APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: 
 
He  applied  for  the  Post  9/11  GI  Bill  prior  to  retirement; 
however, the transferability portion of the benefit had not been 
established at that time and believes for that reason he should 
be given an opportunity to complete this transfer. 
 
In  support  of  his  appeal,  the  applicant  provides  copies  of  his 
retirement  order,  Special  Order  (SO)  AC-000501;  DD  Form  214, 
Certificate  of  Release  or  Discharge  from  Active  Duty, issued in 
conjunction  with  his  30  Sep  09  separation,  pre-separation 
checklist, and other supporting documents. 
 
The  applicant’s  complete  submission,  with  attachments,  is  at 
Exhibit A. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
STATEMENT OF FACTS: 
 
The applicant was relieved from active duty, on 30 Sep 09, with 
a  reason  for  separation  of  Voluntary  Retirement:  Sufficient 
Service for Retirement.   
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
AIR FORCE EVALUATION: 
 
AFPC/DPSIT recommends denial, noting the applicant submitted his 
application  for  retirement  on  6  Oct  08  and  was  approved  on 
14 Oct 08.  He attended a four-day Transition Assistance Program 
(TAP) class on 25 Sep 08 and checked the box indicating that he 
would like counseling on Education benefits.  At the time of his 
TAP  briefing  in  Sep  08  not  much  information  was  available. 
However, he received a letter from the mission support squadron 

on  18  May  09  stating  that  he  has  been  identified  for  a  TAP 
briefing,  considering  that  the  information  for  Post  9/11 
benefits  had  not  been  available  at  the  time  of  his  initial 
briefing on 25 Sep 08 it would have benefited him to attend this 
briefing  on  either  of  the  dates  mentioned  in  the  email.    The 
applicant  states  that  he  applied  for  the  9/11  GI  Bill  right 
before  he  retired  (no  date  of  when  this  happened),  but  the 
transferability  requirement  for  dependents  had  not  been 
established yet, however, as noted in his education records, he 
out-processed  on  3  Aug  09,  clearly  the  requirements  were 
available at that time, and he could have received counseling as 
to  what  would  be  required  for  TEB.    Also,  his  out-processing 
checklist  from  the  Virtual  Military  Personnel  Flight  (VMPF) 
dated  24  Aug  09,  stated  actions  accomplished  to  include 
Education  Office.    The  applicant  had  ample  opportunity  to  seek 
out  information  for  the  TEB  program  but  failed  to  do  so.    He 
references  the  Department  of  Veterans  Affairs  (DVA)  website 
which  talks  about  the  one  year  additional  service  required  to 
transfer  benefits,  but  states  that  he  was  not  informed  of  this 
requirement  because  it  was  not  made  public.    However,  the 
Directive  Type  Memo  (DTM)  was  published  on  22  Jun  09  and  made 
available  to  all  base  Education  Offices,  again  an  opportunity 
for  the  member  to  seek  out  information  but  failed  to  do  so.  
Therefore,  they  found  no  injustice  to  the  extent  that  the 
applicant did not receive adequate counseling as required by law 
and DoD regulation. 
 
The  complete  AFPC/DPSIT  evaluation,  with  attachments,  is  at 
Exhibit B. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF THE AIR FORCE EVALUATION: 
 
The applicant indicates that AFPC/DPSIT misrepresented the group 
email  received  from  the  MPF  on  18  May  stating  that  he  was 
offered  timely  educational  assistance.    In  fact,  the  email 
states that a DD Form 2648,  Transition  Assistance  Program  (TAP) 
Checklist  for  Deactivating/Demobilizing  National  Guard  and 
Reserve Service Members, was required but they did not have one 
on  file.    In  response,  he  simply  sent  them  a  completed 
DD Form 2648.  At that time the transferability program had not 
been  published  and  he  had  already  attended  a  TAP  class  in  Sep 
08.  Had he attended three of the four offered TAP programs the 
Post  GI  Bill  information  would  not  likely  have  been  included 
because the referenced DTM had not been published. 
 
He  received  approval  of  the  Post  9/11  GI  Bill  from  the  DVA  on 
19 Jun  09.    Notably,  it  does  not  mention  the  transferability 
benefit.    In  Jul  09,  he  began  permissive  TDY,  job  hunting  and 
terminal  leave  processes  returning  in  August  for  a  retirement 
ceremony  and  out  processing.    The  DTM  09-003  required  military 

 

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departments  to  provide  and  document  individual  pre-separation 
counseling on Post-9/I1 GI Bill benefits.  The Air Force has no 
such documentation as this counseling was not accomplished even 
when he revisited the Air Force education office on 24 Aug 09.  
AFPC admits that the Air Force did not "engage in a Service-wide 
effort  to  seek  out  members  who  were  already  on  terminal  leave, 
or  who  had  completed  their  pre-separation  counseling,  in  order 
to  provide  them  with  additional  counseling  on  the  Post-9/1l  GI 
Bill."    AFPC/DPSIT  mentions  that  during  this  time  most 
communication  articles  discussed  the  transferability  and  some 
mentioned  the  active  duty  status  requirement  but  it  does  not 
state  that  the  message  was  accurately  or  completely 
communicated. 
 
The  Air  Force  erred  in  not  providing  him  this  mandatory 
counseling and is now attempting to shift the responsibility to 
him for not re-attending a TAP class to find out about a program 
that was not available at the time he applied for the benefit.  
The Air Force failed to communicate and document this benefit to 
all  airmen  as  required  by  the  DTM.    It  is  very  clear  that  the 
record  reflects  this  injustice.    With  two  children  in  high 
school at the time of my retirement, he would have stayed in the 
Air  Force  for  the  additional  year  from  August  09  had  he  known 
about the requirement for transferability. 
 
The  complete  applicant’s  response,  with  attachments,  is  at 
Exhibit D. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT: 
 
1.  The  applicant  has  exhausted  all  remedies  provided  by 
existing law or regulations. 
 
2.  The application was timely filed. 
 
3.  Sufficient  relevant  evidence  has  been  presented  to 
demonstrate the existence of error or injustice.  While we note 
the  steps  the  Air  Force  office  of  primary  responsibility 
indicates  were  taken  to  inform  eligible  personnel  of  this  new 
benefit,  it  appears  that  through  no  fault  of  the  applicant  he 
was  not  properly  counseled  regarding  the  steps  necessary  to 
transfer  his  benefits  to  his  dependents.    We  do  not  find  it 
reasonable  that  he  would  have  knowingly  elected  not  to  pursue 
use of this important entitlement.  As such, in the interest of 
justice  we  find  the  evidence  is  sufficient  to  allow  him  to 
transfer  his  benefits.    Therefore  we  recommend  the  records  be 
corrected as indicated below. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 

 

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THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: 
 
The  pertinent  military  records  of  the  Department  of  the  Air 
Force  relating  to  APPLICANT,  be  corrected  to  show  that  on 
30 September 2009, he elected to transfer his Post 9/11 GI Bill 
Educational Benefits.   
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
The  following  members  of  the  Board  considered  AFBCMR  Docket 
Number  BC-2012-01391  in  Executive  Session  on  13  November  2012, 
under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: 
 
All  members  voted  to  correct  the  records,  as  recommended.    The 
following documentary evidence was considered: 
 
     Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 9 Apr 12, w/atchs. 
     Exhibit B.  Letter, AFPC/DPSIT, dated 20 Apr 12, w/atchs. 
     Exhibit C.  Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 11 May 12. 
     Exhibit D.  Letter, Applicant, undated. 
 
 
 
 
                                   Panel Chair 

 

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