MILITARY UPDATE
Call-up ensures VA status
By Tom Phlipott
For many first-time activated reservists in the war on terrorism, there is a silver lining in the cloud of a long, disruptive and often dangerous mobilization. The call-up will ensure their status as veterans and their eligibility for a full range of benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A fact still not well-known among reservists and National Guard personnel is that those who first entered service after Sept. 7, 1980 — which includes many of the 294,000 members mobilized since 9-11 — face a higher threshold than previous generations did to qualify for VA healthcare benefits. The effect of this change is becoming clear to some Selected reservists and National Guardsmen completing careers that followed a traditional path.
That is, they did their initial training, attended monthly drills and spent enough time on active-duty-for-training to earn 20 "good" years of reserve service. Now they can retire and, at age 60, will begin receiving a reserve retirement check. But as they investigate VA benefits, some reserve retirees are surprised to learn they are not considered veterans. Others discover they have limited veteran status, by virtue of minimal active service, but are ineligible for a full range of VA benefits.
To gain full veteran status, including eligibility for VA healthcare, reservists who entered the military after Sept. 7, 1980, must serve 24 continuous months of active service, or be called to active duty under a federal mobilization order, such as the one President Bush signed after 9-11.
William West, a benefits expert at the VA, said that minimum active-duty requirements affect eligibility for VA benefits, including guaranteed home loans and education benefits. But today, thanks to easing by Congress, the 24-month rule only applies to VA healthcare.
And thanks to the massive call-up over the past two years, the biggest since World War II, many reserve and National Guard members are earning full veteran status through their mobilization.
The call-up also accelerates a reservists' eligibility for VA-guaranteed home loans. Typically, the home-loan benefit is available to reservists only after they serve six years in the Selected Reserve or National Guard; they also need an honorable discharge. Members called to active duty don't have to complete the six years of drill to gain VA home-loan eligibility.
A call-up also affects eligibility for 1) VA disability pensions, an important benefit for veterans who fall on hard times, 2) a death pension for low-income widows and dependents, and 3) education benefits for spouses and children of veterans with permanent disability ratings of 100 percent.
Reservists who haven't served on active duty receive fewer benefits, but they aren't shut out by any measure. For example, they do get medical care for service-connected disabilities, VA compensation for injuries that occur while on active or inactive duty for training, and Montgomery GI Bill for Selected Reserves.
Questions, comments and suggestions are welcomed. Write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120-1111, or send e-mail to: milupdate@aol.com. Or visit Tom Philpott's Web site.
