Nearly 4,700 reservists and guardsmen have been unfairly barred from earning post-9/11 GI Bill benefits available to active-duty servicemembers, veterans advocates say, triggering delays that will likely defer their education for years.
The issue lies with the Pentagon’s use of Title 10, Section 12304b, a specific deployment authorization used by the Defense Department to increase operational use of reservists and cut the cost of their benefits. Any reservist who deploys under the authorization is restricted in the ability to accrue GI Bill benefits, pre- and post-deployment health care and other resources during that duty.
