RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2014-04175 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: He be allowed to transfer his Post-9/11 GI Bill Educational Benefits between his dependents as he intended when he applied. APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: His dependents were rendered ineligible because he did not know he had to make a non-zero allocation of benefits before he retired. At the time he was approved for the Transfer of Educational Benefits (TEB) he allocated all of his benefits to his son, which left zero months for his daughter and his spouse. He spoke to the GI Bill Point of Contact at the time, and was assured he was all set. He believed he had met all the requirements to allow future changes between dependents. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A. STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant initially entered the Regular Air Force on 15 May 92. On 1 Aug 12, the applicant retired, and was credited with 20 years, 02 months, and 16 days of active service. The remaining relevant facts pertaining to this application are contained in the memorandum prepared by the Air Force office of primary responsibility (OPR), which is attached at Exhibit C. AIR FORCE EVALUATION: AFPC/DPSIT recommends denial indicating there is no evidence of an error or an injustice. The applicant was approved for TEB effective 1 August 09, and incurred a three year active duty service commitment (ADSC) based upon his date of eligibility for retirement of 15 May 12. The applicant assigned 36 months of benefits to his son, and none to his daughter or spouse. On 26 Sep 14, the member revoked his educational benefits from is son. Since the inception of the TEB website, when a member submits a TEB request and does not allocate months of benefits to a dependent, a message pops up which states: "Warning: You have one or more eligible family members to whom you have not transferred months. If you do not transfer months to these individuals before you separate from the Armed Forces, you will not be able to do so afterwards. These family members will no longer be eligible for transferred educational assistance. Would you like to continue submitting your transfer request?" Two options are provided: a) OK (submits the request for approval in MilConnect) or b) Cancel (allows the member to make changes prior to submission). The member clicked the option to submit his request and was approved by Total Force Service Center personnel. When the member retired, his dependents with zero months allocated became ineligible by regulation as he did not allocate at least 1 month of benefits to them. A complete copy of the AFPC/DPSIT evaluation is at Exhibit C. APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION: In further support of his request, he states an injustice occurred due to a reasonable interpretation of the web-based TEB which did not clearly differentiate between dependents eligible for benefits transfer vs. dependents eligible for reallocation. The requirement to assign one month of benefits to a dependent in order to signal that you want to allocate additional months later is unorthodox. Why would anyone transfer months of benefits to a dependent before they know if the dependent needed the benefit? Please keep in mind this was the initial availability of the TEB website, and there weren’t even any Frequently Asked Questions to reference. He lays out the complex nature of applying for TEB benefits when the system first came on line, and explains how each pop-up warning, AFI paragraph, and Web-site page is easily misunderstood or misleading. Finally, he thought he had to revoke his son’s benefits first in order to reallocate them to his other eligible dependents, but that resulted in making his son ineligible as well. Every step along the way he felt he was doing the right thing to secure and allocate his TEB benefits. He has fallen victim to an unintended bureaucratic injustice (Exhibit E.) 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 error or injustice. After a thorough review of the evidence of record and the applicant’s complete submission, to include his rebuttal response to the advisory opinion, we believe the applicant is the victim of an injustice. While we note the comments of AFPC/DPSIT indicating relief should be denied because he did not complete the application process properly to qualify all of his dependents, we believe a preponderance of the evidence substantiates that corrective action is warranted. It appears the applicant had every intention of transferring his benefits to more than a single dependent, and was convinced he accomplished that objective. At the time the applicant applied and was approved for Post-9/11 GI Bill transferability in 2009, the program was still new and complete information was not readily available. Given the applicant completed 20 full years of active duty service, to include his obligation of a three year active duty service commitment to qualify for TEB, we find the evidence provided sufficient to provide relief. Therefore, in the interest of justice, we recommend his record be corrected to show on 1 Aug 09 he elected to transfer his benefits to all of his eligible dependents. Accordingly, we recommend the applicant's record be corrected as set forth below. THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to the APPLICANT be corrected to show on 1 August 2009 he transferred his Post-9/11 GI Bill Educational Benefits to all of his eligible dependents and he did not revoke benefits to his son on 26 September 2014. The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2014-04175 in Executive Session on Tuesday, 14 Jul 15, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: Panel Chair Member Member All members voted to correct the records as recommended. The following documentary evidence pertaining to AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2014-04175 was considered: Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 6 Oct 14, w/atchs. Exhibit B.  Applicant's Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C.  Memorandum, AFPC/DPSIT, dated 27 Oct 14, w/atchs. Exhibit D.  Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 17 Nov 14.