BOARD DATE: 6 October 2020 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20190014094 APPLICANT REQUESTS: correction of his record to show: * His obligation end date for the purposes of transfer of Post 9/11 GI Bill education benefits (TEB) was 31 October 2011 * In the alternative, his date of voluntary retirement was 24 November 2011 APPLICANT'S SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS CONSIDERED BY THE BOARD: * DD Form 149 (Application for Correction of Military Record) * Self-authored statement of events, labeled as Exhibit A * Screenshot of TEB webpage (x3) (Exhibits D, F, and G) * Approval email of TEB request, dated 30 November 2009 (Exhibit E) * Notification of Denial for TEB claim, dated 6 June 2019 (Exhibit C) * Response from National Guard Bureau (NGB) to congressional inquiry, dated 20 August 2019 (Exhibit B) * Congressional Inquiry FACTS: 1. The Congressional Representative for the applicant states he was contacted by his constituent regarding the transfer of education benefits to his daughter. The National Guard Bureau’s Office of Legislative Liaison reviewed the matter and advised of the applicant’s option to submit an application to the Board for review of the issue. 2. Through his Congressional representative, the applicant states he was informed he had not met the eligibility date when he applied for a Certificate of Eligibility in June of 2019 for his daughter’s college, despite yearly assurance that it was transferred. He was never aware of this eligibility date or counseled about it. Therefore, he is requesting correction be made to remedy the injustice in his record 3. A review of the applicant’s service records shows: a. With prior enlisted service, on 3 August 1995, he was appointed as a second lieutenant in the ARNG. Orders Number 207-3 shows his Pay Entry Base Date was 4 April 1991 and his Mandatory Removal Date to be 2 August 2023. b. On 30 November 2009, he was ordered to active duty for training (ADT) for purposes of mobilization support. c. On 7 February 2010, he deployed with his unit to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. d. On 19 February 2011, he was honorably released from active duty. His DD Form 214 shows he completed 1 year, 1 month, and 17 days of net active service this period. It also shows he previously completed 1 year, 5 months, and 15 days of total prior active service and 17 years, 2 months, and 14 days of total prior inactive service. e. On 2 May 2011, the MAARNG issued him a notification of eligibility for retired pay at age 60 (Twenty Year Letter), which stated he had completed the required years of service for retirement, and will be eligible for retired pay upon application at age 60. f. On 1 November 2011, he was separated from the ARNG and transferred to the Retired Reserve. g. His National Guard Bureau (NGB) Form 22 (Report of Separation and Record of Service) at the time or retirement shows in item 10 (Record of Service), he completed: * 16 years, 2 months, and 29 days of net service during this period * 3 years, 11 months, and 23 days of prior reserve component service * 4 months and 6 days of prior active federal service * A total of 20 years, 6 months and 28 days of service for retired pay 4. The applicant provides: a. A self-authored statement wherein he details a timeline of the events. He states, in pertinent part: (1) From November of 2009 through December of 2009, he mobilized with his unit to deploy to Afghanistan. During this stressful period, one of the briefings was for a new program which allowed service members to transfer unused Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to family members. To qualify, service members had to either extend their service obligation an additional 4 years, or have their 20-year commitment end with at least 2-3 more years of service, which is where he fell. He believed his obligation was to complete the 20-year commitment. He is not sure of the date of this briefing, nor does he recall if the paperwork was collected in class or if they were responsible for sending it in on their own. On 30 November 2009, he received confirmation email indicating that the request to transfer his education benefits to his dependent was approved (Exhibit E). (2) Because he was approved for this benefit, he and his wife suspended a College Fund account (529 Plan) they had set up and were paying into for their daughter. He was never informed of a requirement to extend his service obligation date beyond completion of his 20-year commitment. He also went to the extreme and continued to drill with his National Guard (NG) unit for an additional 6 months beyond his retirement eligibility date of 4 April 2011. He did so to be sure he met the eligibilities and responsibilities for his retirement. (3) In the end, he is missing less than a month of qualifying NG service, which he would have committed to if he would’ve known it was necessary for the TEB. This seems particularly unjust to him, because at the most, this additional month of service would have required him to attend a drill weekend of 2-3 days, if there were any drills in the month of November. Furthermore, he met with the NG Retirement Board Records Department on at least two occasions to complete record reviews prior to his retirement, and the discrepancy with his Service Obligation Date for the TEB was never brought up or discussed. He was told he had met and exceeded any and all obligations he owed to the government. (4) After he retired, he checked the status of the GI Bill that was transferred to his daughter on multiple occasions, and verified the transfer eligibility (Exhibit D), which clearly stated: "Your current service dates indicate you have fulfilled the service commitment required to maintain your transferred benefit for your dependents." The decisions surrounding his daughter's college education were based on his apparent eligibility to transfer his GI Bill benefits to her. (5) A letter to a Representative's office from the National Guard Bureau dated August 20, 2019, states, "he was notified in writing of his approval and additional service obligation end date of November 24, 2011." He contests he never received such a letter. If he had received it, he would not have retired 23 days prior to this obligation date. b. Email notification dated 30 November 2009 which stated his request to transfer his GI Bill benefits to his dependent had been approved. (Exhibit E) c. A screenshot from the TEB webpage through the VA which shows the applicant’s obligation end date as 24 November 2011. (Exhibit D) (1) The applicant also placed an arrow flag to highlight the portion of the page that states “You incurred a 4-year service commitment based on your transfer of eligible Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to your dependent(s). Your current service commitment end date is: 20111124. Your current service dates indicate you have fulfilled the service commitment required to maintain your transferred benefit for your dependents.” (2) It also shows he elected to transfer 35 months of his Post 9/11 GI Bill to his daughter on 30 November 2009. (3) A statement on the top of the page included the following message to ARNG Soldiers. To Transfer Education Benefits to qualified dependents the individual must understand: * That he or she must have at least 6 years of qualifying Armed Forces service * They must have an NGB-23 in their iPERMS records that confirms 6 or more years of service * They must commit to a 4 year service obligation** (with asterisks) * They may not have any current flagging actions at time of their TEB request or during the TEB approval process * They must verify their remaining service and extend if necessary * Their TEB request will be denied if they do not meet all the TEB approval requirements within 70 days of my request * Upon approval, they must return to the milConnect website to confirm TEB Obligation End Date d. TEB webpage, similar to the one referenced in paragraph 4d, which shows his request was approved and the obligation end date was 24 November 2011. (Exhibit F) e. Letter of denial from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) dated 6 June 2019, wherein the VA notified the applicant’s daughter her claim for TEB could not be approved because the “transferor” did not meet the transfer of entitlement obligation. (Exhibit C) f. A response from the NGB dated 20 August 2019, wherein the Chief, Congressional Inquiries, informed the member of Congress that the NG’s Personnel Programs, Manpower and Resources Division carefully reviewed the applicant’s inquiry and verified that the applicant was eligible for the TEB on 1 August 2009. On 23 November 2009, he requested to transfer his benefits to his dependents, for which he was approved, and he was notified in writing of this approval and additional service obligation end date of 24 November 2011. However, on 1 November 2011, the applicant voluntarily separated from service, which consequently terminated his TEB. (Exhibit B) g. TEB webpage, with a handwritten date on the top of the page to show “5 November 2019.” The page contains the same message to ARNG Soldiers on the right side of the page. There is also a text box in red font which states the applicant incurred a 4-year service commitment based on his TEB. His current service commitment end date is 24 November 2011. The separation date from his service component of 31 October 2011 indicated that he separated or transferred prior to fulfilling the service commitment required to maintain TEB. The page allowed him to transfer the benefits back to himself from his dependent and contained a list of eligibility requirements the individual must acknowledge. (Exhibit G) 5. Please see below REFERENCES for applicable regulatory guidance. BOARD DISCUSSION: 1. After reviewing the application and all supporting documents, the Board found that relief is not warranted. 2. The Board noted that the applicant's service obligation date based on his approved TEB request was clearly documented as 24 November 2011, as shown on the TEB screenshots he provided. The Board further noted that TEB was established as a retention incentive. The applicant was obligated to complete a full 2 years of service based on the approval date of his request, which he did not do. Considering that information regarding his service obligation date was readily available, the Board found insufficient evidence of mitigating circumstances that would support a recommendation for relief. The Board determined there is no error or injustice in this case. BOARD VOTE: Mbr 1 Mbr 2 Mbr 3 : : : 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. 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. REFERENCES: 1. On 10 July 2009, the Army released the Post-9/11 GI Bill Implementation Policy that identified and established responsibilities, eligibility criteria, benefits, and detailed guidance on the administration of the program. a. Transferability of Unused Benefits to Dependents. For the purposes of transferability, Armed Forces include all active duty service and all Selected Reserve service regardless of branch of service or component. Soldiers whose request to transfer benefits is approved will incur an additional service obligation in accordance with the below policy. Soldiers are expected to serve the additional service obligation. b. Eligibility. (1) Any Soldier of the Armed Forces who fulfills Post 9/11 GI Bill eligibility requirements and who, at the time of the approval of the Soldier’s request to transfer entitlement to educational assistance does not have an adverse action flag, is eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and (2) Has at least 6 years of service in the Armed Forces on the date of election and agrees to serve 4 additional years from the date of request, regardless of the number of months transferred, or (3) Has at least 10 years of service in the Armed Forces on the date of election (4) Is or will become retirement eligible during the period from 1 August 2009 through 1 August 2013 and agrees to serve the additional period, if any, specified below. Soldiers who attain 20 years of service on or after 2 August 2010 and before 2 August 2011, two years of additional service from the date of request are required 2. The TEB site, www. https://milconnect.dmdc.osd.mil, where an individual must request to transfer their educational benefits to dependents, states the system (milconnect) calculates the Obligation End Date (OED) from the date the individual submits the TEB request. The OED cannot be backdated. It further states: “You must remain in the Armed Forces until your OED. If you do not, you lose your eligibility to transfer benefits. If the Department of Veteran Affairs has already processed a payment for transferred benefits, an overpayment will occur and may create a debt against your account. You are responsible for the debt and may be subject to recoupment. Please read "What causes Debts with VA Educational Programs?" on the VA's site.” The TEB website is an official record of the service obligation. //NOTHING FOLLOWS// ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20190014094 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1