Veterans Benefits GI Bill

The secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs requested more compatibility with the U.S. Department of Defense. This was prompted by a necessity to provide better service to veterans. The secretary seeks for the paperwork for disabled soldiers to push through the system faster. This involves making VA’s VISTA system and the DoD’s AHLTA system more in-sync.

Retired General Eric K. Shinseki spoke to over 2,000 Army healthcare professionals at the Army Medical Symposium, located in San Antonio, Texas, on July 22. He was specifically addressing this issue.

Veterans are at the top of the nation when it comes to homelessness, depression, substance abuse and suicide. The VA and DoD recognize flaws in the system and seek to rectify these statistics. They claim it should not take 6 to 12 months to process a healthcare request.

The Post 9/11 GI Bill Facebook page has reached 1,000 fans with a week remaining before the Post 9/11 GI Bill goes into effect. If you or one of your dependents have applied for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the Facebook and Youtube dedicated to the new GI Bill have valuable information to help you move smoothly through the entire financial aid process. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affair’s site also has a wealth of information.

As the Post 9/11 GI Bill’s August 1st, 2009 launch date approaches, the Veterans Benefits GI Bill thought it would be beneficial to compile a list of useful resources pertaining to new GI Bill applicants. The following resources will help you better understand this military financial aid program:

The U.S. Department of Defense released a video that discusses the over 90,000 applications received for the Post 9/11 GI Bill:

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website has improved in the past month for the Post 9/11 GI Bill page. In addition to offering a vast amount of information concerning the Post 9/11 GI Bill, information about other educational benefit programs are included to help compare the benefits a military personnel should apply for. Several benefits are a “one or the other” package, such as selecting between the Post 9/11 GI Bill or the MGIB, so it is important to invest in this research before making a final decision on education benefits.

It’s approaching the month of August, where the Fall Semester 2009 starts off with the first Post 9/11 GI Bill benefactors! Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has scheduled a timely Q&A for military students to answer all of their questions, needs, and concerns.

Keith Wilson, the Director of Education Services at the U.S. Department of Education, will be available for a Q&A session on July 24, 2009. He will be available on the Pentagon Channel.

Several readers have expressed concern about their application for family transferability for the Post 9/11 GI Bill. The U.S. Department of Defense has received an overwhelming amount of applications pertaining to the transferability option of the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The Post 9/11 GI Bill offers lucrative financial aid benefits to active duty, reserve, and veterans. These benefits are meant to scale with the rising costs of tuition and offer more than the predecessor, the Montgomery GI Bill.
This does not mean, however, that your financial aid should stop at your Post 9-11 GI Bill!
Make sure [...]

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has a Facebook dedicated to active duty, reserve, and veterans interested in the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Become a fan and get updates in your Facebook on the latest news concerning the new GI Bill and other military financial aid!
Also, the VA has an official YouTube channel available.
Social media [...]

Military personnel have demonstrated excitement, anticipation and frustration over the Post 9/11 GI Bill’s ability to transfer benefits to spouses and children as a method of military retention. To address the confusion surrounding this prospect of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the Veterans Benefit GI Bill blog has compiled 10 frequently asked questions:

Do I qualify [...]

Thinking about transfering your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to your younger children? According to 3.d.2.d (page 16) of this report of transferability guidelines, your child:

May only start using the benefits after the military personnel has completed ten years of service.
May not use the benefits until they have received a high school diploma (or equivalent), [...]