Expert: Cynthia Bedell - 5/14/2009

Question
QUESTION: I served 4 years active duty army and was released honorably. I enlisted into the army reserves under the Try-One option but i believed that this enlistment was fraudulent due to facts about deployability not being provided to me when i asked them before signing the contract. I have not attended any reserve drills and they are recommending a general discharge characterization of service. Does this change my eligibility of the GI Bill under active duty service? Does it matter what characterization i get in the reserves? I have already begun using my GI Bill as of JUL 2008, my ETS date

ANSWER: Dear Joseph --

If you contracted for the Army Reserves and you are not attending drill you are Absent Without Leave (AWOL) on every drill weekend.  

You could receive a far worse discharge than general.  However, once you receive your new DD 214 changing your discharge characterization to general, you will lose some of your VA benefits, and possibly some aspects of your GI Bill depending on which variation of the GI Bill you qualified under.

If you continue to receive benefits for which you are no longer qualified, because you do not inform your counselor of your change in status, you will be guilty of theft, and can be charged and prosecuted for that crime.

The government is not guilty of fraud in your enlistment.  You did not read your contract before signing.  It is not the recruiter's responsibility to read it to you before you sign.  So you will not be excused from your current enlistment by claiming deception.

If you want to keep your benefits, I recommend you work some agreement out with your current reserve command, so you can complete your contract requirements, and get honorably discharged a second time.  Then, if you don't want to deploy -- stay out of the military.

Good luck to you.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I wanted a safe bet to not deploy for the year and the recruiter explained to me that the only viable way was under the Try-One program. She knew i was not going to sign it unless i knew i couldn't get deployed and i would have went IRR and took my chances if it couldn't be guaranteed. The information she provided to me about the Try-One option was the deciding factor in me signing up for the program. Upon arriving at my Reserve unit they stated that i needed a form that explicitly stated that i could not be deployed. I was told by the recruiter that this was under the Try-One program. The information she provided was false and misrepresented. We went line by line in the contract to make sure I was clear about the terms. I understood that AFTER the enlistment all bets were off regarding being called up. The recruiter cannot tell me that something falls under a certain program when it does not. I based my decision on this fact. This is a violation of Article 83. You can't mislead someone about the facts to get them to sign the contract.

Answer
Dear Joseph --

Yes, your recruiter may have misled you.  She should be punished.

YOU signed the contract.  It is legal and enforceable.  You can go to jail for being AWOL, although you probably won't, because it will not be worth the reserve unit's time to pursue you.

Good luck to you.  You are going to need it since you appear to have a tendency to blame other people for actions you took.