With My Discharge in 2005, Do I Qualify for the New GI Bill?
Q: If I was discharged in 2005 and have currently been using the GI Bill, am I eligible for this new benefit?
A: When referring to the GI Bill and new benefits, I’m assuming you are referencing the Montgomery GI Bill and Post 9/11 GI Bill respectively, right? If so, then the answer is yes.
Post 9/11 GI Bill eligibility goes back to September 10, 2001. And because you got out in 2005, you had served for at least three years after the September date, which put you at the 100% Post 9/11 GI Bill tier of benefits.
However, when you said “… eligible for this new benefit”, eligibility can have multiple meanings. For example, if you still have eligibility left under your MGIB and you switch over to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, then the only eligibility you get under the New GI Bill is the same number of months of eligibility as you had under your old GI Bill. But if you first exhaust your 36 months of eligibility and then switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you get an additional 12 months of eligibility for a total of 48 months. So in the end, the amount of eligibility your get is directly related to the method in how you use your multiple GI Bills.