RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2012-03009 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO ________________________________________________________________ THE APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: He be allowed to transfer his Post 9/11 GI Bill educational benefits to his children. ________________________________________________________________ THE APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: When he converted his old GI Bill benefits to the Post 9/11 GI Bill he was never advised that he had to complete the Transfer of Educational Benefits (TEB) while on active duty. The applicant’s complete submission is at Exhibit A. ________________________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF FACTS: On 31 Dec 09, the applicant was relieved from active duty with a reason for separation of Voluntary Retirement: sufficient service for retirement. ________________________________________________________________ AIR FORCE EVALUATION: AFPC/DPSIT recommends denial, noting the applicant did not provide adequate justification or documentation. He received pre-separation counseling on 16 Sep 09, to include education benefits. There is no record of him applying for the benefit in the TEB system or any Right Now Technology (RNT) records. If the Board finds there was an injustice to the extent that the applicant did not receive adequate pre-separation counseling as required by law and DoD regulation, and was not personally notified about the need to transfer while serving in the Armed Forces, the Board may approve his request. The complete DPSIT evaluation is at Exhibit B. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF THE AIR FORCE EVALUATION: At the time of transfer, he was asked if he wanted to transfer his benefits to his children or spouse. He told the person helping him that he did not know how many months of benefits he would have left since he had recently completed a Bachelor Degree and was scheduled to start Paramedic school immediately after retirement. He was told that before his dependents would be eligible for Post 9/11 benefits, he would need to make sure that he transferred any remaining months to them. However, he was never told that he had to be on active duty to accomplish this. Had he been informed of this required action he would have acted upon it immediately. The intent of him changing to the Post 9/11 GI Bill was to be able to transfer his benefits to his children. He understands that the Post 9/l1 GI Bill was a rapidly evolving and not well known entity during his last few months in the Air Force and the pre-Separation briefing he attended lasted all of 15 minutes and was more focused on completing the out-processing checklist. 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 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. Therefore, in the interest of justice we find the evidence is sufficient to warrant the requested relief. Accordingly, we recommend the record be corrected as indicated below. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to APPLICANT, be corrected to show that on 31 Dec 09, he elected to transfer his Post 9/11 GI Bill Educational Benefits. ________________________________________________________________ The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2012-03009 in Executive Session on 27 Mar 13, 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 5 Jul 12. Exhibit B. Letter, ARPC/DPTT, dated 3 Aug 12, w/atchs. Exhibit C. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 22 Aug 12. Exhibit D. Letter, Applicant, dated 13 Sep 12.