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Two plans compete to enhance reserve GI Bill

The military advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is warning Congress that simpler is not necessarily better when it comes to revising GI Bill education benefits.

The concern comes as Congress considers a variety of proposals to improve the GI Bill, including one that promises National Guard and reserve members one month of benefits at the active-duty rate for every month of mobilization.

Reservists now get a maximum of $317 a month in GI Bill benefits, but are eligible for payments equal to 80 percent of the rates for active-duty members if they are mobilized for extended periods.

Active-duty members get GI Bill benefits worth up to $894 a month for serving less than three years and up to $1,101 a month for serving more than three years. Reservists are eligible for up to $660 a month for at least one year of mobilization for a contingency operation and up to $880 for three or more years, but they must remain in the reserves in order to use the benefits.

The month-for-month plan, which not only offers bigger benefits but also does not require reservists to stay in service to use them, has support from major veterans’ groups, including the nation’s two largest groups, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In Jan. 17 testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs economic opportunity subcommittee, the Legion’s Ronald Chamrin said the simple concept has great appeal.

“This bill solves many problems, most significantly the inequities of benefits of the members of reserve components as compared to their full time, active-duty counterparts,” said Chamrin, assistant director of the Legion’s economic commission. “This will allow reservists to earn credits for education while mobilized, just as active-duty troops do, and use them after they leave military service.”

Reps. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs and Armed Services committees, and John Boozman, R-Ark., a member of the veterans’ economic opportunity panel, are the chief sponsors of HR 1102, known as the Total Force GI Bill. A similar Senate measure, S 664, is sponsored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.

But Paul Campbell, legislative director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said the month-for-month benefits could be a problem in that people who have earned bigger benefits could face a “precipitous drop” in college aid unless they earned enough to complete a degree.

A veteran could be getting $1,101 a month and then see that drop to $317 a month — or to zero, if their reserve service has ended. “A reservist who separates from the military and has used up the active-duty-level education benefits will have no more education benefits to draw from,” Campbell said.

IAVA supports a modified plan in which benefits would be based on cumulative service, with payments increasing for every six months of mobilization. Someone with six months of service would get $550 a month or 50 percent of the active-duty rate, under the plan. Benefits would increase by 10 percentage points for each additional six months of service.

Under the IAVA plan, people would get more over time, Campbell said.

Under a month-to-month model, for example, a reservist mobilized for one year would get $21,120 in benefits over three years — the full active-duty rate for one year and reduced reserve benefits for the remaining 24 months. Under IAVA’s proposal, that reservist would get $23,760 — $660 a month for 36 months.

Someone who deployed for 18 months would get $24,970 under the month-to-month plan, but $27,720 under IAVA’s proposal, at a rate of $770 a month for 36 months, Campbell said.

Congress has an opportunity to adjust Guard and reserve education benefits as part of a larger effort to overhaul the GI Bill, which would include a boost in active-duty benefits as well as a new way to calculate benefits for reservists, whether they have been mobilized or not.

The Veterans Affairs Department and the Pentagon have not been especially helpful in efforts to improve the GI Bill. VA and defense officials said they, like the IAVA, oppose the month-for-month benefits proposed in HR 1102, but also do not support the alternative that would offer even more generous benefits.

Curtis Gilroy, the Defense Department’s director for accession policy, said benefits that are too good only encourage people to leave the military to use them, hurting readiness.

The current benefits plan, which provides extra benefits to reservists who have been mobilized while requiring them to stay in the military to use them, is a better force management tool, Gilroy said.