Don’t Miss Out on Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits Transferability

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (AW) LaTunya Howard, Navy Personnel Command Public Affairs

MILLINGTON, Tenn. (NNS) — According to an online poll conducted by Navy Personnel Command, Sailors still don’t quite understand how the Post-9/11 GI Bill transferability option works.

Sixty-two percent of Sailors who responded thought they could wait until after retirement to transfer benefits to their children.

“Based on the calls that we’re receiving, we’re worried that the perception is out there that you can wait until you retire to transfer your benefits and that’s not the case,” says Kathy Wardlaw, Navy active duty GI Bill program manager. “You have to do it before you leave the Armed Forces.”

Sailors with 90 days of active duty service after September 11, 2001, have earned education benefits under the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, with no buy-in costs. This benefit can now be transferred to family members shown in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System.

The first thing Sailors can do is read NAVADMIN 203/09, which provides the requirements for transferring Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

“Normally an enlisted member needs to check with their career counselor because there will be an obligation required,” said Wardlaw. “Sailors will need to obtain the obligation through either re-enlistment or extension. Officers can sign a Page 13, and they need to see their administrative officer to do that.”

Sailors need to ensure that their obligated service is reflected in their electronic service record before their request for transferability will be processed. A four-year obligation is required for the transferability option.

Since July 2009, 12,000 Sailors have taken advantage of this relatively new education benefit option. This is below the estimated 15,000 the Navy GI Bill office expected.

“I have a nineteen-year-old currently attending Mississippi State University,” said Vicky Gallagher, a Navy Reservist. “It’s an out-of-state college, and it’s expensive to pay that bill as a single parent on one income. With tuition, books and housing, I’m saving nearly $12,000 annually. This money is going to help me quite a bit.”

For more information on the Post-9/11 GI Bill transferability program, read NAVADMIN 203/09 or visit the Post-9/11 GI Bill page at npc.navy.mil.

Coast Guard Ends Search for CG-1705 Downed Aircrews

Coast Guard suspends search for downed aircrews.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Coast Guard suspended the search for survivors of a downed Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane and Marine Corps AH-1 Super Cobra helicopter 15 miles east of San Clemente Island, Calif., at 9 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009.

The Coast Guard first received word of the collision at 7:10 p.m. Thursday. Coast Guard, Navy, and Customs and Border Protection crews participated in the search.

There were seven crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard plane, and two aboard the Marine Corps helicopter. The multi-agency search involved more than 20 search and rescue assets and covered an area of more than 644 square miles for 63 hours.

The search and salvage efforts will be handled by the U.S. Navy.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

We Break Radio Silence To Bring You This Speical Update on CG-1705

Coast Guard Releases Photos of CG-1705 Crew

Lieutenant Commander Che J. Barnes; age 35
Lieutenant Adam W. Bryant; age 28
Chief Petty Officer John F. Seidman; age 43

Petty Officer Second Class Carl P. Grigonis; age 35
Petty Officer Second Class Monica L. Beacham; age 29
Petty Officer Second Class Jason S. Moletzsky; age 26
Petty Officer Third Class Danny R. Kreder II; age 22.

Admiral Thad Allen and Terri A. Dickerson Miss Congressional Deadline and Snub Congressman Elijah Cummings

Terri A. Dickerson at the 1 April Hearing on Coast Guard Civil Rights and Diversity

Coast Guards Director, Office of Civil Rights misses deadline to publish updated Civil Rights Manual.

At two congressional hearings this year, the first on 1 April 2009 and another on 19 June 2009, Terri A. Dickerson promised members of congress that all recommendations fo the $600,000.00 Booz Allen Hamilton report would be completed by 31 October 2009.

That deadline and promise to congress has come and gone, and there is no new Equal Opportunity Manual.  Dickerson has been rewriting the manual for two years now.  It may be the longest rewrite of a manual in Coast Guards history.  Dickerson’s official biography is replete with references to her writing ability, which includes at least one published book.  However when it comes to policy and implementation within her directorate, she has missed the mark every time and cost American taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Settlements of Equal Opportunity complaints that have resulted from the out of date manual push that number to well over 1.7 million dollars.

In Ms. Dickerson’s testimony before the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Marine Transportation (19 Jun 09 she repeatedly makes reference to the wrong date for the first hearing on 1 April, referring to it as 2 April 2009 .  Again, back on the 19th of June she told members congress that only a few items remained to be completed, with most done by the end of the fiscal year.  She followed that up with “a few others will not be done until the end of October.”  The EO manual among them.

Allot of window dressing has been applied to Dickerson’s program over the past year.  The failures of Coast Guards Civil Rights program and initiatives can be traced back decades and generations.  Admiral Thad Allen is responsible for the program, but he has shown no leadership in its administration.  Since he became Commandant there have been two unsolved noose incidents at the services academy, two congressional hearings into his civil rights program, an ongoing Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of Coast Guard Civil Rights and declining enrollment by minorities at the Coast Guard Academy.

Captain Bibeau

At the 19th June hearing members of congress noted that minority applications to the Coast Guard Academy had been on a steady decline for over 5 years.  However during that same five years the admissions director at the Academy continued to be extended in her job beyond her normal tour.   Captain Bibeau has been Director of Admissions at the Coast Guard Academy in July 2001 even though her ability to attract and target minorities for recruitment has been on a steady 5 year decline.  At the 19 June 2009 hearing, Congressman Elijah Cummings told Vice Admiral Pearson, the Chief of Staff at the time, that he would have fired her if she worked for him.

She has been fired in essence, Coast Guard announced her job as Director of Admissions was available to be filled during the next transfer season just two months later.  At the 1 April hearing members of congress learned that Coast Guard had appointed an officer to serve as the Hispanic American Colleges and Universities liaison officer.  This surprised many on the hill when they found out that Coast Guard had no such liaison to the nations 120 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Admiral Thad Allen

Coast Guard fixed that problem by the 19 June hearing, and announced the HBCU Ambassadors Program.  The HBCU liaison coupled with the Ambassadors program has made true headway under Captain Stephan Baynes leadership.  Coast Guards little supported program of pairing Flag Officers and members of the Senior Executive Service with HBCU’s has finally gained ground as well under the scrutiny of congresses watchful eye.

None of these initiatives would have come to fruition had a handful of Coast Guard Civilians not stood up and said enough is enough.  Just like Admiral Allen’s missing leadership on these and other initiatives, his leadership in ending reprisal and retaliation against those employees was loud and clear.  If you’re not with Thad Allen, you’re clearly against him even if he’s leaving minorities out of the process.  And if you’re not with Allen, your career will suffer … the end.  Although every allegation shared with this blog has been proven true, resulting in the 600K Booz Allen report, and two congressional hearings, Allen has allowed these employees to continue to face acts of reprisal to this day.