IN THE CASE OF:	

		BOARD DATE:	  22 September 2015

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20150002096 


THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE:

1.  Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any).

2.  Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any).


THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant requests correction of his records to show he elected to transfer educational benefits to his daughter M____ under the Transfer of Education Benefits (TEB) provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill prior to his retirement.

2.  The applicant states he changed his Post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiary election during his Army Career and Alumni Program (now known as the Soldier for Life – Transition Assistance Program) seminar prior to his retirement so that his oldest daughter M____ would receive his benefits.  For some reason, the change did not take effect and he did not find out until after his retirement that his other daughter S____ is the one receiving the benefits.  He desires to have the months moved back to M____ as he requested in June 2014.  He further explains:

	a.  He elected to have his Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits transferred to his oldest daughter M____ a few years ago; however, she had issues in high school and he decided to move all of the months to her sister S____.

	b.  Before he retired last year, he moved the benefits back to M____, but it appears the request did not go through because when she attempted to sign up for school they discovered that all the months were still assigned to S____.

	c.  He went to the MilConnect website to fix the error, but only his daughter S____ was shown as eligible.  He selected the revocation option for S____ thinking that would then allow him to move the months to someone else, but now all his dependents are ineligible.

3.  The applicant provides email correspondence from the Finance and Incentives Team, U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC).

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Following prior active duty service, the applicant was appointed as a Reserve commissioned officer in the rank of second lieutenant on 8 April 2004.

2.  He was promoted to first lieutenant on 8 October 2005 and he was promoted to captain on 1 June 2007.

3.  His DD Form 2958 (Service Member Career Readiness Standards/Individual Transition Plan Checklist), dated 19 May 2014, shows he received separation counseling.

4.  On 30 September 2014, he retired under the voluntary early retirement authority.

5.  He provided email correspondence from HRC, dated 28 January 2015, which shows:

	a.  He contacted HRC for assistance in transferring educational benefits to his daughter M____.  He indicated he elected to have his GI Bill benefits transferred to his oldest daughter M____.  M____ had some issues in high school so he decided to move all of the months to his daughter S____.  Prior to his retirement, he moved the benefits back to M____, but the request did not go through and the MilConnect website only showed his daughter S____ as being an eligible beneficiary.  He tried to fix the error and selected the option to revoke his daughter S____, thinking that would allow him to move the months to somebody else, but now everyone is ineligible.

	b.  HRC advised him that:

		(1)  He would only be able to reallocate benefits to his daughter S____.  A veteran may modify entitlement or revoke entitlement among only those dependents who were designated to receive transferred benefits prior to separating from the Armed Forces.  Veterans who transferred entitlement prior to separating or retiring may not add new dependents after separation or retirement.

		(2)  In order for his daughter M____ to be an eligible beneficiary, at least 1 month of benefits had to have been allocated to her at the time of his retirement.

		(2)  The MilConnect website indicated the last transaction for his daughter M____ was completed on 7 July 2012, which was the revocation of the benefits.  He was informed that if he had documentation showing M____ was allocated benefits after that date and prior to his retirement, a surrogate request form could be accomplished to allow her the use of the benefits.

	c.  He informed HRC that he did not have paperwork on the benefits transfer because everything was accomplished electronically through the MilConnect website.  He stated HRC had evidence showing he designated his daughter M____ to receive the benefits. His interpretation of the TEB policy was that once he designated her to receive benefits prior to separating, he could modify or revoke as many times as he wanted.  His daughter M____ was not a new dependent, she was a designated beneficiary and the policy only stipulates that she had to be designated prior to retirement.

	d.  HRC advised him that execution of a transfer had to be completed by a Soldier while serving as a member of the Armed Forces in accordance with Department of the Army Post-9/11 GI Bill Policy Memorandum, paragraph 17g(1).  In revoking his daughter M____'s benefit, he was required to execute a new transfer; however, he was ineligible to do so because he was no longer serving on active duty.  He was directed to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) if he perceived an error or injustice existed.

6.  Department of Defense (DOD) Directive-Type Memorandum 09-003, dated 22 June 2009, established the criteria for eligibility and transfer of unused educational benefits to eligible family members.  Eligible individuals include members of the Armed Forces on or after 1 August 2009 who, at the time of the approval of the request to transfer entitlement to educational assistance under this section, are eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill and:

	a.  have at least 6 years of service in the Armed Forces on the date of election and agree to serve 4 additional years in the Armed Forces from the date of election; or

	b.  have at least 10 years of service in the Armed Forces (active duty and/or Selected Reserve) on the date of election, are precluded by either standard policy (service or DOD) or statute from committing to 4 additional years, and agree to serve for the maximum amount of time allowed by such policy or statute; or

	c.  are or become retirement eligible during the period 1 August 2009 through 1 August 2013.  (A service member is considered to be retirement eligible if he or she has completed 20 years of active duty or 20 qualifying years of Reserve service.)  For those individuals who had an approved retirement date after 1 August 2009 and before 1 July 2010, no additional service was required.  For those individuals eligible for retirement:

* on or after 1 August 2009 and before 1 August 2010, 1 year of additional service was required
* on or after 1 August 2010 and before 1 August 2011, 2 years of additional service was required
* on or after 1 August 2011 and before 1 August 2012, 3 years of additional service was required

7.  The policy further states the Secretaries of the Military Departments will provide counseling on Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to active duty participants and members of the Reserve Components with qualifying active duty service prior to separation or release from active duty and document accordingly.

8.  During the implementation phase of the program (the first 90 days from 1 August 2009 through 31 October 2009), many Soldiers were unaware of the requirements for transferring Post-9/11 GI Bill educational benefits.  The Army, DOD, and the Department of Veterans Affairs initiated a massive public campaign that generated major communications through military, public, and social media venues on the Post-9/11 GI Bill and transfer of benefits.

9.  Requests to transfer Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to eligible dependents are submitted through the Defense Manpower Data Center web application.

10.  Public Law 110-252 establishes legal limitations on the transferability of unused Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.

	a.  The law limits eligibility to transfer unused benefits to those members of the Armed Forces who are serving on active duty or as a member of the Selected Reserve.

	b.  A Soldier must be currently serving on active duty or as a member of the Selected Reserve at the time of transfer of education benefits to his or her dependent on or after 1 August 2009.

	c.  Changes to the amount of months allocated to family members can be made at any time, to include once the service member leaves military service, provided the service member allocates at least 1 month of benefits prior to separation.  If the service member allocates 0 months and subsequently leaves military service, he or she is not authorized to transfer unused benefits.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  A Soldier must be currently serving on active duty or as a member of the Selected Reserve at the time of transfer of education benefits to his or her dependent on or after 1 August 2009.  The applicant's last day in service was 30 September 2014.

2.  The applicant was serving on active duty when the program was implemented in August 2009 and continued serving over 4 years after the program was implemented.  He had plenty of time to submit his application and/or to verify that his application was properly submitted and accepted.  He failed to exercised due diligence.  There is neither an error nor an injustice in the applicant's transfer of benefits processing.

3.  There is no evidence of record and he provided no evidence showing he attempted to revise his TEB to his dependents prior to leaving military service on 30 September 2014 other than revocation of the benefits to his daughter M____.

3.  In view of the foregoing evidence, there is an insufficient basis for granting the applicant's requested relief.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___x____  ___x____  ___x____  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice.  Therefore, the Board determined the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the records of the individual concerned.


      _______ _   x_______   ___
               CHAIRPERSON
      
I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case.
ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20150002096



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20150002096



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