I would sincerely appreciate any help with my question. I was honorably discharged in the fall of 2008 from the Army reserves after completing 8 years. I am now in dental school and have been recieving REAP benefits for the last two years. Today I got a letter from the VA stating that the DOD has terminated my eligibility. My understanding was that with the law changes, I would still be eligible to recieve the REAP benefits within the 10 year period even after discharge. If so, why has the dod terminated my eligibility and how do I find out? The VA letter states that this status must be changed by the DOD before they would reconsider an appeal. As most know, the VA hotline number is useless at this point due to the volume of calls. I all get is a recoreded message to try later. Thanks for any help.

http://www.gibill.va.gov/pamph.../CH1607/REAP_FAQ.htm

The VA web site says your still eligible for REAP for up to 10 years after seperation from "drilling status" so I do not know why DoD would terminate your eligibility either.

On the VA toll-free phone line - they moved alot of the operators over to claims processing so that means alot of longer waiting time and harder to get through. I called 3 times today for some of my students - had to keep redailing until I could be placed on hold but did talk to VA personel each time after being on hold.

Call 1-888-442-4551, first recording starts - press 1, second recording starts - press 0 and then hope you get place in the que for hold.

Also you could talk to them about Post 9/11 GI Bill to see if that would pay more (if it pays less for you - fight to get your REAP reinstated).

And finally - REAP benefits are length of deployment plus 4 months. Have you exhausted your REAP benefits? If yes, you still might qualify for Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits for a total of combined benefits of 48 months.

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I will try calling the VA again tomorrow to see if the dod gave a reason for the termination. I still have 13 months of eligibility left. I will also call my unit to see if they would have any idea. The hard part is finding someone who knows why! At worse case I do qualify for the post 9/11 gi bill but am afraid that I would be denied for the same (whatever it was) reason the they denied the REAP. God bless.

I'll tell you exactly why the VA terminated your REAP benefits. The VA adjudicator that was working your claim went to the REAP web site to check to see if you are still eligible. This happens every time the VA gets in an enrollment from your school. Because you left the Reserves the admin folks for the Reserves goes in and changes your eligibility code from "R1" which means eligible to "DA" which means REAP is terminated. This web site (as of right now) can't be changed. Then what happened to ya next is the adjudicator that worked your claim got lazy/stupid/etc and did not look further into your computerized records or web sites to see if you finished your 8 year committment actively drilling. Since you did finish your 8 years actively drilling you DO get a 10 year delimiting date. So you get 10 years to use REAP from your date of discharge from the Reserves.

You can do two things. Either call or send a letter to the VA. If you call tell the person on the phone that you finished your 8 year committment actively drilling and that according to Public Law 110-181 you are entitled to a 10 year delimiting date from date of discharge. If you write the letter put on top of it "Notice of Disagreement" and say you want to APPEAL the VA decision to terminate your REAP education benefits and site the public law etc.

What state is your school located in?

Good luck.

You were absolutely correct. The computer dates do not show that I completed my obligation. I am sending the corrected paperwork tomorrow. I do have one question if anyone can answer about the post 9-11 gi bill. I know that there is a maximum amount per term that they will pay but is there a maximum amount of credit hours? I am currently in dental school and we take 26 credit hours per term. Will they only cover 12 hours (fulltime) or will they cover the 26 hours up to the term maximum? Would help to know since I am considering a switch. Second question is, I was told that I have 13 months of REAP benefits left. If I switch I was told that they would subtract 23 from 48 months and that would be the time left for benefits. Sorry to be so long winded. Trying to navigate this maze with a poor compass and topo map!

If you take 26 hours then the VA will pay for all 26 hours multiplied by your benefit level. The limit is on how much a credit hour the VA can pay towards tuition and fees. Every state has a maximum. Then there is a max of $1000.08 for books per year.