Some citizen soldiers returning to college from duty in the war are being misinformed about their eligibility for continued GI Bills payments after they stop drilling with the Guard or Reserve. In 2005, the government enacted new GI BILL Benefits (known as 1607 or “REAP”), which makes Guard and Reserve troops who return from the war eligible for education payments similar to active duty troops. “The problem starts when war veterans return to their Reserve or Guard unit and their unit leadership tells them if they stop drilling, then they automatically lose their education benefits. This is incorrect. Department of Veterans Affairs confirms that 1607 recipients could revert back to the original Reserve GI Bill – known as 1606 – upon discharge from paid drill status. They can then use their remaining 1606 entitlement for the number of months they were activated plus four more months. Furthermore, multiple periods of activation can be added together. With the implementation of 1607 the VA has not been able to keep up with demand, so be patient.
REAP Enrollment Verification Not Needed
The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that some REAP participants have received emails erroneously informing them that they need to certify their attendance via the WAVE system to receive payments. This is incorrect, no certification is needed for REAP benefits, VA has asked that you please disregard these emails.
Army Spouse Employment
The Army Spouse Employment Partnership (ASEP) provides Army spouses the opportunity to achieve employment goals. Currently there are 26 ASEP corporate partners from the private sector and the federal government. In Fiscal Year 2006, ASEP Partners hired over 5,000 military spouses, bringing the grand total of spouses employed to 16,000. The Army also launched the Military Spouse Job Search (MSJS) https://www.msjs.org in 2005 through Department of Labor’s America’s Job Bank. MSJS provides free access to a résumé and job-listing database for spouses and military-friendly employers, the ability to track spouse hires, and the capability to sort jobs by state. For more information, visit the Military Spouse Career Center at https://www.military.com/spouse.
For more information contact:
Transition Assistance Advisor
PO Box 8111
Madison, Wisconsin 53708-8111
fedhrfeedback@ng.army.mil
DSN 724-3727
Comm (608) 242-3727