HEIDELBERG, Germany -- It takes more than just logging onto a Web site for U.S. Army
Europe Soldiers to transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to a family member.
Signing up is the first step. The
second is letting a career
counselor know about it, say
USAREUR retention officials.
Soldiers can start the transfer
process by logging into the
Department of Defense
Transferability of Education
Benefits Web page and filling
out the transfer form. Soldiers
will need to log in with a DoD
Common Access Card or
Defense Finance and Accounting
Service "myPay" PIN number.
Family members listed under the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System are eligible to
receive education benefits under the program.
The next step is even easier, said Sgt. Maj. David Best, USAREUR senior career counselor.
"The first thing the Soldier has to do after transferring his or her benefits in the TEB Web site is
to contact their career counselor," he said. "We are the certifying officials for all enlisted
Soldiers in Europe."
The career counselor verifies that the Soldier meets the eligibility standards required by the GI
Bill program.
The basic requirement is that the Soldier must have at least six years of military service and not
be subject to any adverse personnel actions, explained Sgt. 1st Class James Hatfield, USAREUR
retention operations NCO.
Most requests are easy for counselors to certify, because most of the Soldiers requesting to
transfer benefits have enough time remaining to their enlistments and are in good standing, Best
explained.
However, some Soldiers may need to reenlist or extend to be eligible to transfer benefits. If
Soldiers do not get in touch with a career counselor to make arrangements to reenlist or extend,
their requests will be rejected and they must reapply after reenlisting or extending, he said.
The Army goal is to take about three business days to complete a transfer, Best explained. "Our
goal in USAREUR is one business day."
Since Aug. 1 -- the day the transfer program became active -- more than 400 USAREUR
Soldiers have logged onto the TEB site and signed their family members up for education
benefits, Best said.
"This is one of the number-one requested benefits that has come out of the Army Family Action
Plan," Best said. "It is a benefit that Soldiers and Family members have requested over the years,
and they are taking advantage of it."
"It has been wildly popular," he said. "Soldiers and Family members are very interested in it."
Best stressed that career counselors are not education counselors, and do not dispense education
advice, but said career counselors will help Soldiers who need assistance with the application
process.
Once a career counselor certifies a request, the Soldier's family member should apply to the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Soldiers with questions about their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, eligibility to transfer those benefits
and other questions can contact their servicing career counselor, local education services office,
or visit the VA Web site at www.gibill.va.gov.
The DoD Transferability of Education Benefits Web page is available at
https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/TEB/
General polices for TEB are available at www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2009/0409_gibill/
About us: The U.S. Army in Europe, with NATO and other coalition partners from throughout its 51-country area
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