Veterans’ Benefits: Eligibility of Merchant Mariners

[Coolman1]

DS received an admission from USMMA.
USMMA graduates can serve in military or serve out in civilian sector.
What is veterans' benefit for USMMA graduates?
Anyone has any idea? Thx

 

[Capt MJ]

DS received an admission from USMMA.
USMMA graduates can serve in military or serve out in civilian sector.
What is veterans' benefit for USMMA graduates?
Anyone has any idea? Thx

Same as any other veteran who served AD and then separated/retired, or meets the criteria for eligibility due to service in the active Reserve.

If someone obtains a commission from SA, ROTC, OCS/OTC, etc., then goes to full-time active duty, benefits are per va.gov.
https://www.benefits.va.gov/BENEFITS/benefits-summary/SummaryofVABenefits.pdf

If someone serves as an active Reserve or Guard - say a USMMA grad who becomes a harbor pilot and maintains his or her USNR commission through the required annual periods of AD and other active Reserve requirements - they have eligibility as described here.
https://www.benefits.va.gov/benefits/benefits-summary/summaryofvanationalguardandreserve.pdf


Veteran status and benefit eligibility are carefully described on va.gov.

 

[KPEngineer]

DS received an admission from USMMA.
USMMA graduates can serve in military or serve out in civilian sector.
What is veterans' benefit for USMMA graduates?
Anyone has any idea? Thx

Any benefits attach based on what you do after graduation. No benefits are attached based solely on attendance at USMMA.

 

[beyond]

Same as any other veteran who served AD and then separated/retired, or meets the criteria for eligibility due to service in the active Reserve.

If someone obtains a commission from SA, ROTC, OCS/OTC, etc., then goes to full-time active duty, benefits are per va.gov.
https://www.benefits.va.gov/BENEFITS/benefits-summary/SummaryofVABenefits.pdf

If someone serves as an active Reserve or Guard - say a USMMA grad who becomes a harbor pilot and maintains his or her USNR commission through the required annual periods of AD and other active Reserve requirements - they have eligibility as described here.
https://www.benefits.va.gov/benefits/benefits-summary/summaryofvanationalguardandreserve.pdf


Veteran status and benefit eligibility are carefully described on va.gov.

The stuff on the VA website doesn't always apply because we get so few days on AD as a result of being IRR out of the gate. The status of SSO/166x benefits seems to change with the season, and who's in the program office. Don't count on anything unless you have good confirmation it applies specifically to SSOs.

If you go AD it's a different story.

 

[KenJ]

None if you sail on your license after graduation ... other than outstanding starting pay.

 

[beyond]

None if you sail on your license after graduation ... other than outstanding starting pay.

....if you sail, you're required by law to drill in the IRR, which will lead to VA Loan and GI Bill eligibility. So not "none" actually "lots"

 

[KPEngineer]

None if you sail on your license after graduation ... other than outstanding starting pay.

....if you sail, you're required by law to drill in the IRR, which will lead to VA Loan and GI Bill eligibility. So not "none" actually "lots"

I'm not certain that is correct. IRR time alone does not count (there is no "drill" in the IRR). You would have to do a recall of some sort for at least 90 days on Active Duty or at least six years of satisfactory Selected Reserve service.

https://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/purchaseco_eligibility.asp

 

[KPEngineer]

The stuff on the VA website doesn't always apply because we get so few days on AD as a result of being IRR out of the gate. The status of SSO/166x benefits seems to change with the season, and who's in the program office. Don't count on anything unless you have good confirmation it applies specifically to SSOs.

If you go AD it's a different story.

Neither the personnel in the program office nor the season affects the status of SSO/166x benefits. It only affects the information (good/bad) you receive. The VA is completely separate from DoD and the DoD has no ability to change VA eligibility on their own.

 

[beyond]

Neither the personnel in the program office nor the season affects the status of SSO/166x benefits. It only affects the information (good/bad) you receive. The VA is completely separate from DoD and the DoD has no ability to change VA eligibility on their own.

So the reason I made that comment was really in regards to one issue, and that was VA loan eligibility. You need a letter attesting a certain level of activity in the program, different people have said that they've gotten letters from the program office with different levels of activity.... though they're now saying it takes six years. In that sense it kind of is up to the program.

The GI bill also gets weird for a lot of reasons. It's clearly defined, but no one understands funded IRR, so the VA often gives bad gouge because they don't understand the program.