RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS


IN THE MATTER OF:		DOCKET NUMBER:  BC-2013-04869
		COUNSEL:  NONE
		HEARING DESIRED:  YES


APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:

He be allowed to transfer his Post-9/11 GI Bill Transfer of 
Educational Benefits (TEB) to his dependents effective 15 
October 2010.


APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:

In November 2010, he was informed by the Education Office at the 
Pentagon that his benefits had been transferred to his 
dependents.  The Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) advised that 
he would incur a four year service commitment.  However, he is 
planning to retire in the summer of 2015 solely due to his son’s 
medical condition.  He is facing a decision between his family 
and the biggest benefit he earned during his Air Force career.  
He cannot go back in time and recreate the fact that he was told 
the transfer of benefit was accomplished in 2010.  He views this 
as an administrative error partially the fault of the Education 
Office that served him.  He has served honorably for over 
18 years with duty on the Joint Staff and in the White House.  
He desires the choice to retire with his largest VA benefit 
intact.

The applicant's complete submission, with attachment, is at 
Exhibit A.


STATEMENT OF FACTS:

The applicant is currently serving in the Regular Air Force in 
the grade of lieutenant colonel.

Any member of the Armed Forces on or after 1 August 2009, who, 
at the time of the approval of the individual's request to 
transfer entitlement to educational assistance under this 
section, is eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, has at least 
6 years of service in the Armed Forces (active duty and/or 
Selected Reserve) on the date of election and agrees to serve a 
specified additional period in the Armed Forces from the date of 
election.






AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

AFPC/DPSIT recommends denial.  DPSIT states the applicant did 
not provide adequate justification or documentation.  To access 
the MilConnect website and submit a TEB request, members must go 
through the Virtual MPF.  Prior to accessing Self-Service 
Actions, the member must click the button stating: “I have 
verified my email and phone.”  This function allows the member 
to provide both a military and personal email address.  Had the 
applicant accurately completed this step, he would have received 
two emails from the Total Force Service Center (TFSC). The first 
would have been the initial notification providing instructions 
on the actions required.  The second would have been the 
rejection of the TEB request.

Additionally, when the member applies through MilConnect there 
is a message from your service component that states: “Your 
transfer request is not final until you digitally sign an AF 
Form 4406 (Post-9/11 GI Bill Transfer of Education Benefits 
Statement of Understanding) in Virtual MPF.  Within 72 duty 
hours, you will receive an Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) 
email with ‘TEB incident’ in the subject line, stating your AF 
Form 4406 is ready for signature.  If you DO NOT receive this 
email, call the TFSC at 1-800-525-0102 ASAP!”  There is no 
record of the member inquiring about the status of the 
application until an email was sent from AFPC/DPSIT Education 
Services advising that the previous submission had expired and 
the member would need to reapply.

The DPSIT complete evaluation is at Exhibit B.


APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

The applicant states that in the fall of 2013, he discovered the 
transfer of his benefits had not been executed in 2010 because 
he was not alerted of - and therefore did not complete a follow 
up action to digitally sign the SOU.  He specifically 
transferred the benefit in the fall of 2010 to ensure that he 
could serve any service commitment incurred before his 20 years 
of service.

The AFPC advisory opinion seems to be boilerplate 'cut and 
paste' language which does not consider the specific aspects of 
his appeal.  Most of the data presented by the OPR in the 
advisory is irrelevant to his case.  He studied past AFBCMR 
cases published on the AFBCMR website, particularly those 
concerning the TEB.  In many cases, the AFPC advisory opinions 
for those cases use words that match the verbiage in the AFPC 
advisory opinion on his case.

The OPR states that he had to log on to the Virtual MPF in order 
to apply for benefits.  He visited the Air Force Education 
Center in person to complete the transfer application.  He 
realizes today's Air Force procedures require the member to 
enter through the vMPF, but he believes he signed up directly to 
MilConnect with the help and guidance of personnel from the 
Education Center.  He believes the procedures regarding how 
members transfer benefits have changed from the date he executed 
his transfer in November 2010.

The advisory also implies that he separated/retired.  However, 
he is still on active duty and he further states that he makes 
no claim that he did not receive “adequate pre-separation 
counseling.”

While AFPC claims their email notification system is perfect; he 
can attest that he regularly does not receive standard 
notification emails from AFPC.  He believes this is mostly due 
to the fact that he has served seven years now in non-Air Force 
organizations where AFPC emails fail to get past Joint Staff or 
White House servers in order to be delivered to the end user.  
This happens often for Air Force members serving honorably in 
positions outside of mainstream Air Force bases.

There is no plausible scenario where he would have taken the 
time to visit the Education Center, execute his transfer and 
then not sign a form to finish the process.  Why would he give 
up his largest military benefit at the 15 year point?  This was 
not a case of carelessness or mind-changing on his part.  He was 
misled and uninformed.  He believes this to be an error and 
injustice on the part of the Air Force.

The applicant’s complete response 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 an injustice.  After thoroughly 
reviewing the circumstances of this case, the majority of the 
Board believes that favorable consideration of the applicant's 
request is warranted.  We note the comments of the Air Force 
office of primary responsibility indicating the applicant did 
not properly complete the TEB enrollment process via vMPF which 
is why he did not receive notification of the pending actions 
required to complete his registration.  However, we believe as 
the applicant states, it is not reasonable that he would have 
knowingly elected not to pursue use of this important 
entitlement other than he was under the assumption that his TEB 
was complete as he was advised by his education office.  
Therefore, in order to preclude the possibility of an injustice 
to the applicant, the majority of the Board recommends the 
record be corrected as indicated below.

4.  The applicant's case is adequately documented and it has not 
been shown that a personal appearance with or without counsel 
will materially add to our understanding of the issues involved.  
Therefore, the request for a hearing is not favorably 
considered.


THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT:

The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air 
Force relating to the APPLICANT, be corrected to show that on 
15 October 2010, he elected to transfer his Post-9/11 GI Bill 
Educational Benefits.


The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket 
Number BC-2013-04869 in Executive Session on 24 September 2014, 
under the provisions of AFI 36-2603:


By a majority vote, the Board recommended approval of the 
application.     voted to deny the applicant’s request but does 
not desire to submit a minority report.  The following 
documentary evidence was considered:

   Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 11 October 2013, w/atchs.
   Exhibit B.  Letter, AFPC/DPSIT, dated 20 November 2013.
   Exhibit C.  Letter, SAF/MRBR dated 2 May 2014.
   Exhibit D.  Letter, Applicant, dated 28 May 2014, w/atchs.