eBenefits and MilConnect - Access and Usage

eBenefits is a joint VA/ DAD Web Portal that provides resources and self-service capabilities to Service Members, Veterans, and their families to apply, research, access, and manage their VA and military benefits and personal information through a secure connection.  In order to apply for BDD, you will have to use your eBenefits account.

Services Provided

• Apply for benefits
• Apply for and View disability compensation claim status
• View your VA disability payment history
• Access official military personnel documents (DD Form 214, certificate of release or discharge from active duty)
• View Post-9/11 GI Bill usage and availability (this is actually done through MilConnect, but you can get linked from eBenefits)
• Transfer entitlement of Post-9/11 GI Bill to eligible dependents
• Obtain a VA-guaranteed home loan certificate of eligibility
• Register for and update direct deposit information

Access to eBenefits

Active duty can use their CAC card and Veterans can use their DS Logon

Usage

Veterans must be listed in Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS)

MilConnect gives beneficiaries 24/7 access to personnel information; the ability to update information related to health, education and other benefits; and email notifications about changes in benefits.  It was previously known as the mydodbenefits website.

Services Provided

Transfer Entitlement of Post-9/11 GI Bill to eligible dependents

View details of medical/ dental/ pharmacy coverage

View summary of medical claims

View summary of other dependent health insurance used

View and print medical/dental enrollment cards

View and print DD214

View DODTap forms (DD2648)

View Print immunizations 

Update DEERS contact information

Find nearest DOD ID facility

Access to eBenefits

Active duty can use their CAC card and Veterans can use their DS Logon

Usage

Veterans must be listed in Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS)

Final Pay - Your Last Active Duty Check and other Retirement Pay Considerations

Final Pay Check

I have to tell you the truth, I was a little confused when I came out of the Finance Office about my separation pay.  DFAS says the following on its web-page with reference to your final paycheck in the military:

Regular pay is suspended during the month of separation to ensure that no overpayment exists. On the member's Date of Separation (DOS), the servicing finance office will have a payment sent to the member's bank account using the EFT process. From DOS through the next 20 days, the member's pay account will be monitored and additional pay action will be made for the final pay computation as required. Post separation pay audits are conducted regularly and may identify residual payments that are due to the member. If this occurs, DFAS (or in limited instances, the member's servicing finance officer) will pay the residual payments via paper check to the address that the service member provided during separation processing.


Below is the information that was given to me three months before my separation date, which is supposed to be 30Nov18:

Final Pay Check
1.  Your account will be suspended 10 days prior to your separation date.  If you separate on the 15th or 30th/31st of the month you will not receive your mid-month or EOM paycheck, you will receive a final pay from the Finance Office a week after date of separation
(This sounds confusing to me.  At first I thought that if I separated on 30Nov18, then I wouldn't get my mid-month pay.  Right now that is my separation date, and I checked on the MYPAY web-site and I'm scheduled to receive my mid-month pay, so maybe that was my misinterpretation of the document.  But I asked the lady who gave the brief and she seemed sure that I wouldn't receive my mid-month pay either.)

2.  Finance Office will pay 80% of the final pay on the Date of Separation which will show up in your current bank a week after Date of Separation.
(To me this means I not receive any money on 30Nov18, but on/about 10Dec18, which kind of sucks because I have mortgages to pay.  We'll see.)

3. The remaining 20% is held in case of any outstanding debts, and will be paid 30 to 45 days after Date of Separation.

Accrued Leave
My Finance Office told me that I can sell any unused accrued leave up to 60 days if character of discharge is 'Honorable' or 'General'.  For each day or leave accrued, the Soldier will receive one day's basic pay minus the standard 25% for federal tax and any applicable state tax.  Also, I was told that this 'sold leave' money would be available in my final pay, 80% of which will be available on 10Dec18.  Again, we'll see.

Terminal Leave and PTDY
I was told that while on terminal leave/ PTDY I will continue to receive my pay and I will receive BAH for the location where I am going on leave starting the first day of leave.

Retirement Pay
After speaking with my peers, every one of them who retired starting receiving their retirement pay beginning at the end of the next month.  It's important to note that Retirement pay only comes once a month at the end of the month, there is no mid-month retirement pay.

Veterans Disability Compensation Benefit
As I discussed in my post on the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program, most people who take advantage of the BDD program begin getting their payment benefit as soon as 1-3 months.  However, if you file after you separate, then you can expect it to take 1-3 months after your last appointment.

Summary
In summary, I hope to separate in about 15 days and I'll let you know in future posts how the final pay is actually working for me.

Good Luck!!

RR

Current VA Benefits Status November 10, 2018

Here’s my current VA benefits situation:

I used the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program to submit my veteran disability compensation benefit claim before my final retirement.  Since I’m not out yet, I don’t no what disability will be assessed by the VA, but supposedly I will receive my benefits soon after I leave the service.  We’ll see.

I also added my family members to the 9/11 GI Bill so I can let them use my education benefits after they graduate high school if they need the money.

I went to the Soldier for Life briefings twelve months before my separation date.

I set passwords for ebenefits, milconnect (both of these use the DS logon), mypay, and myhealthevet.
So now, I’m waiting for my separation to see what happens next.

Future posts will discuss my education benefits, the BDD program, life insurance considerations, health insurance considerations, and Soldier for Life.

I hope that the information I share about my retirement and VA experience helps you with your own experience.

RR

Resources:
BDD information in this blog: The Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) Program

Ebenefits: https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/homepage
Milconnect: https://milconnect.dmdc.osd.mil/milconnect/
Mypay: https://mypay.dfas.mil/mypay.aspx
Myhealthevet: https://www.myhealth.va.gov/mhv-portal-web/home

Now What? Retiring after 31 years, what's the next step?

Thirty-one years of working for the Army.  Thirty-one years of doing what the Army told me to do, and letting the Army take care of my health care, take care of my family, give me direction, pay my salary, having my back.  And now what?

I have all these veterans benefits that I have to figure out: health insurance, life insurance, education benefits.  They aren't black and white, and there seem to be a lot of decisions to make.  Thousands of veterans have done it already, so I thought it would be clear and easy, but it sure doesn't seem like that.  So, one of the things I want to do in this blog is clarify these benefits and the steps I went through to retire and receive these benefits.

So this is my blog.  It’s about the things that affect my current life.

Retirement.  After 31 years in the Army, my retirement was a little scary.  There were a lot of unanswered questions that I ‘googled’ and ‘yahooed’ and asked and searched for and never got complete and accurate answers.  So, for this part of my blog, I’m trying to keep my fellow soldiers informed.  Trying to pass on the information that I wanted when I was getting ready to retire.  Things I could have used, such as my finances during the first 6 months of my retirement, using the VA health system, using education benefits, and a myriad of other things that I don’t even know now to list here.

Writing.  I acquired my MFA in Creative Writing about 6 months before I retired.  Instead of working, my goal was to make up the difference in my salary by writing after I retired.  So the other half of this blog will be how I worked through the ins and outs of writing a novel, starting a platform, and making money and learning about writing.  Hopefully, this will help some other wayward writer or retiree to have realistic goals and aspirations.  I don’t intend to destroy dreams, rather, share my experience so they are better prepared.

Job hunting.  I'll have to search for another job in the mean time, until the writing money comes in, so I'll also discuss the ups and downs of that process.

I hope that the information here is helpful, for ultimately I hope to write something useful and if one person uses this information, then I will have succeeded.

For those of you who may not know, a PACE plan is a contingency plan.  PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency.  It's usually attributed to ways to communicate, four methods in case one or two don't work.  Here, I want to discuss the plans I made for my retirement and how my plans worked, or didn't work.

Thanks for joining me here on the blog, I hope the information is useful to you.

RS