IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 4 February 2016 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20150005631 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, in effect, correction of his military records to show he requested to transfer his education benefits under the Transfer of Education Benefits (TEB) provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill to his son in 2010. The applicant requests a personal appearance hearing before the Board. 2. The applicant states, in a 4-page memorandum, that his son was born on 8 November 2009. In early 2010, while assigned as the Executive Officer of the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion located in Sacramento, California, he requested a TEB. One of the proudest days of his life was when he went home and showed his wife that he had transferred his Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to their son. It was only a couple months after his son’s birth and he had already provided for the major expense of his college education. a. Previously, he had applied for the Officer Service Management Pilot Program to transfer from Infantry to Functional Area 49. He was accepted into the program on 16 February 2010. The primary reason for his branch transfer was to expedite his ability to receive a military funded graduate education within the Operations Research Systems Analyst (ORSA) community. This was so his Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits would be available to his son. The applicant states he never reviewed his TEB status because he had no reason to believe there was any problem. b. He maintained an intense schedule that did not afford him the ability to attend Army Career Alumni Program (ACAP) training prior to his selection by the Fiscal Year 2014 Enhanced Selective Early Retirement Board (FY14 ESERB). The demands placed on him between 2010 and 2014 were extraordinary. He managed multiple extended temporary duty assignments supporting intensive ORSA schooling. At the same time, he was a full time Operations Analyst Study Lead supporting several analysts during regular duty hours. During his off-duty time, he spent nights and weekends completing his Intermediate Level Education requirements through the distance learning program. He was subsequently selected to deploy to Afghanistan as an individual augmentee where he served as the Chief of the Complex Operations Data Development Activity from October 2012 to April 2013. c. He understands that after 1 August 2013, the TEB became a recruiting and retention tool requiring an additional 4 years of military service obligation. During his pre-counseling for the officer separation board, the status of his TEB was never identified as an issue. He had informed his chain of command that he had requested a TEB. It was not until October 2014 that he was directed to his eBenefits account and made aware that his initial transfer request had not gone through. He contacted the U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC) several times to get additional information about what had happened to his initial request. He spent several weeks searching through boxes of papers only to discover he was missing several important documents. During his permanent change of station move from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, to Newport News, Virginia, the moving company lost several boxes and pieces of furniture. Included among these lost items were boxes of papers and certificates wherein he believes was his printed TEB. Unable to locate the TEB request from 2010, he resubmitted a request in November 2014 which was denied. d. The applicant briefly discusses his military history as an enlisted member of the Army National Guard and later a graduate from the U.S. Military Academy in 1998. He contends that he was reprimanded in 2002 for driving while under the influence. The charges were later dismissed. He takes full responsibility for his actions, but believes he was the victim of double jeopardy as a result of unintended consequences. e. He believes the denial of his TEB is an error. He is disappointed that he is unable to continue his service as an Army officer; however, he still plans to continue his service to his nation as a member of the Army civilian corps. He is hopeful that the Board will see fit to approve his TEB request for his son. 3. The applicant provides: * Orders, WS-240-0001, White Sands Missile Range, dated 27 August 2012 * memorandum, subject: Letter of Release from Theater, effective 9 April 2013 * passenger reservation system printout, dated 10 April 2013 * letter dated 29 October 2013, with enclosures, from the claims adjuster for lost/damaged personal property (6 pages) * TEB computer printout, dated 25 November 2014 * emails between the applicant and HRC dated between 3 and 29 December 2014 * letter of support from the Deputy Commander, Special Operations Joint Task Force Iraq, dated 21 March 2015 CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. On 30 May 1998, the applicant was appointed as a commissioned officer in the Regular Army. He attained the rank of major, pay grade O-4 on 2 October 2008. 2. On 30 April 2015, the applicant was retired from active duty in accordance with Army Regulation 600-8-24 (Officer Transfers and Discharges) due to voluntary early retirement. He completed 16 years, 11 months, and 1 day of creditable active duty service. 3. In the processing of this case, an advisory opinion was obtained from the Section Chief, Finance and Incentives Branch, HRC. The opinion recommended disapproval of the applicant’s request. a. To transfer Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to dependents, an individual must be on active duty or in the Selected Reserve on or after 1 August 2009, have at least 6 years in active duty or Selected Reserve status and not have a current negative flag action. Further, the individual must commit to the service obligation and process the request through the TEB website. All benefits must be transferred before the individual separates or retires. Public law, implementation instructions and Department of Defense directives make no provision for waiving these requirements. b. He did not submit a TEB request before his selection by the FY14 ESERB on 30 July 2014. Soldiers considered for early separation must request TEB before the early separation board’s selection release date. Officers considered by the FY14 ESERB were advised of the GI Bill actions in Military Personnel Message 13-357, paragraph 15. If the applicant had requested TEB before the FY14 ESERB selection release date, he would have incurred a 4-year TEB service obligation which HRC would have later adjusted to his ESERB release date of 30 July 2014. The applicant requested TEB on 10 November 2014 which was rejected by HRC on 25 November 2014 due to his not requesting TEB prior to his ESERB release date. c. During the 5 years prior to the applicant’s ESERB selection the following resources were available to the applicant: * Defense Directive Type Memorandum (DTM) 09-003: Post 9/11 GI Bill, dated 22 June 2009 * U.S. Army Post 9/11 GI Bill Policy Memorandum, dated 10 July 2009 * counseling opportunities at various Army Installation Education Centers d. Information provided before and after the release of the implementation instructions was highly publicized. 4. On 30 November 2015, a copy of the advisory opinion was sent to the applicant for his information and opportunity to respond. No response was received. 5. A letter of support from the applicant’s former battalion commander, dated 21 March 2015, states that the applicant had submitted a TEB request in 2010 to transfer his Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to his son. The author of the letter is not certain what happened to the applicant’s original TEB, but asks that favorable consideration be granted by the Board to transfer the benefits. 6. Department of Defense Instruction 1341.13, subject: Post-9/11 GI Bill establishes policy for authorizing TEB in accordance with Title 38, U.S. Code, section 3319. It states: a. The Secretary concerned, to promote recruitment and retention in the Uniformed Services, may permit an individual eligible for Post-9/11 GI Bill educational assistance to elect to transfer to one or more of his or her family members all or a portion of his or her entitlement to such assistance. b. Any Service member on or after 1 August 2009, who is entitled to the Post-9/11 GI Bill at the time of the approval of his or her request for TEB under this section, may transfer that entitlement provided he or she meets one of these conditions: (1) Has at least 6 years of service in the Military Services (active duty or Selected Reserve), on the date of approval and agrees to serve 4 additional years from the date of election. (2) Has at least 10 years of service in the Military Services (active duty or Selected Reserve), is precluded by either standard policy or statute from committing to 4 additional years, and agrees to serve for the maximum amount of time allowed by such policy or statute. (3) Is or becomes retirement eligible during the period from 1 August 2009 through 31 July 2012. (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 additional service was required based on the individual's retirement eligibility date. (4) On or after 1 August 2013, all members must comply with the requirements listed above pertaining to individuals with 6 or more or 10 or more years of service. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. The applicant contends that his military records should be corrected to show he transferred his education benefits under the TEB provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill to his son in 2010. 2. The applicant requested a personal appearance hearing before the Board; however, because there is sufficient evidence in the record to fully consider this case, a formal hearing is not warranted. 3. The laws and regulations governing the TEB do not provide this Board the authority to waive any of the program requirements. The Board can only correct specific records that are found to be in error, which may or may not result in an applicant’s ability to submit a TEB request. In the applicant’s case the available documentary evidence of record does not show that the applicant had made, or had attempted to make, a TEB request prior to his selection by the FY14 ESERB on 30 July 2014. 4. In view of the above, the applicant's request should be denied. 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 that 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) AR20140009376 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20150005631 6 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1