Here's my problem, last year I enlisted and only completed 34 days of BTC. I got out due a personal reason. My orginal contact back then I was given $65,000 to pay back my college loans. Anyways I have enlisted again and ship 20070227. At MEPS the liason said I do not qualify for Loan Repayment because I am not considered prior service, 34 days is considered prior service (crazy) Anyway they tried to waive it but it was denied. Does anyone know a way around this? I have $83,000 in student loans its crazy I know. I transfered alot and went to out of state. I should be a lawyer or doctor with that amount, but I am only a social worker. I don't know if its worth enlisting w/o the perk of college loan repayment. Any advise would be great. I did sign my contact, but after reviewing it at home its missing a few key things also.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Karma,

Now according to the DoD prior service is defined as a person who has served over 180 days and/or completed AIT. Now while at MEPS I was considered non prior service for everything else but in the liason's office I am considered prior service, yet my contact lists me as non prior service. Now the more I think about it and look at this contact the more I get pissed. My recruiter is going to hate me, but I am going to tell them they need to give me the LRP then I am not going army. Do you think I am wrong, what would you do. If I go in I can pay off my credit card debt but come out with my loan debt still. Now the funny thing also is they are giving me the GI Bill but according to the DoD I am not eligible for that either because I opted out of it the first time I enlisted in order to get LRP. What's up with that? No to mention my contact is so not complete, they give me a cash bonus, but managed to leave out the bonu addedum page of my contact. Without that paper you won't get the bonus. I appreciate all the work the recruiter did and I feel bad but this is my career and I have to do this right?

I don't know a lot about your situation, but if you are having doubts or feel uncomfortable about your contract, you need to go with your instincts. Get everything cleared up. And if you cant' get it cleared up to your satisfaction, then have them take you out of the DEP.

Most recruiters will be willing to work with you as I believe if they lose you from the DEP they have to make up for it.

Get that bonus addendum NOW! Also check the annex of your contract to see what addendums are listed.

Your addendums (addendi?) should be listed on your annex, your annex must be listed on the front of the DD4/1.

Where did you find the defenition of what is/isn't prior service?

I spoke to my recruiter yesterday. He stated that they will correct my contact the day I ship. He said they will put in the addendum, annex and the DD4/1 cause I'm missing all of that. My recruiters MOS is Finance so he know exactly what was missing. He says if they don't fix that day then I don't have to ship. I really really don't want to wait to the day I ship to fix this.

As for the LRP, I found the definition of prior service on usmilitary.com it also did state people with under 180 days are "glossary prior service" and I also email a cyber recruiter at USAREC(US Army Recruiting Command) he said that people with under 180 days are still "glossary prior service" but are to process as non prior service. I asked my recruiter who did MEPS speak to about the waiver(which was denied) for LRP, he said USAREC and that as long as I served 1 day of active day that I'm not eligible for LRP. However that rule does not apply to bonuses and the GI BILL. He stated I was process as non prior service for everything but LRP. I did email the person at USAREC regarding whether or not I am not eligible for LRP. I'm still waiting for a response.

Not sure when exactly you are supposed to ship, but the day you are supposed to leave is exactly the last day you want to be taking care of crap with your contract. Tell your recruiter he needs to get this stuff for you now, and if he continues to beat around the bush I would either take it up with the station commander or drop DEP. I rarely tell someone not to go through with their commitment to join, but its your recruiters job to take care of you. On a side note, I am assuming that the same personal problem that got you out the first time has been resolved?

You could very well be out of luck for the LRP. Prior service eliminates a lot of options.

If you think you can get your contract fixed on your ship date, that should be OK. Don't leave MEPs without it.

WO1 Pryr, Yes the personal issue from before has been resolved for about a year now. Thanks for the advise. Think I will try to see if I can go back to MEPS to fix the contract before I ship. My recruiter left for a cruise won't be back for a week.

Daddy Warcrimes, Thanks for the advise also. I'm still holding out for hope about the LRP. But I won't ship until they fix the other issues with my contact. I ship on 2/27/07.

Thank you very much for the advise.

Wow... I agree wholeheartedly with WO1 Pyro. Don't wait until the day you ship to take care of this stuff, that's EXACTLY what your recruiter wants you to do, because that means that you can do nothing about it at that point. What will happen is that conveniently, the people you will need to talk to at MEPS to get it fixed, will not be there. Be in control, it's your life! Don't be fooled by your recruiter's so-called hard work. Recruiters will say whatever they have to and put up an act in order to get you signed up and shipped. He will have no control over your future promotions or NCOER's. I didn't even know that I had signed up for an 8-year contract until I was at MEPS. Mine told me I would only be signing up for 4 years. It turned out that I will stay in, however I certainly didn't appreciate the dishonesty.

Another thing, who are your loans through? Uncle Sam does NOT pay back private loans. I had a $8,000 loan from Citibank in addition to those that I obtained through Sallie Mae, and they wouldn't touch the Citibank loan. Citibank is a reputable blue-chip company but it didn't matter. However, Uncle Sam will forego your federal loans if you serve on active duty. I opted for the G.I. Bill instead and paid the federal loans and Citibank debt back myself.

If you don't get the results you are looking for, there's always the congressional letter option. A friend of mine had to do that in order to obtain his college loan repayment monies. Also, if you have a bachelor's degree, don't go enlisted. Go OCS. You'll be making so much more money as an officer, receive more respect, and the living conditions are entirely better. You won't have to worry about loan repayment because your salary will be enough.

I managed to convince my brother-in-law to take the BCT to OCS option instead of the BCT to AIT option, and he cannot thank me enough for it. He had already signed up for the DEP, but was able to get it changed as long as he had not shipped yet.

Good luck, and if you have any other questions that you would like to talk about in a non-public forum, I can be reached at ac79@i-mnet.com.

So I got an email back from the USAREC cyber recruiter. He said I am authorized for the Loan Repayment Program since I am only "Glossary Prior Service".

Now mind your according to the MEPS liason and my recruiter it was USAREC that said I was not eligible. What should I do? My plan is to print out the emails and take them to the station commander, and ask why I am I being told 2 different things. I will also tell them I want to go to MEPS to correct my contract ASAP. Am I right in my thinking?

For the guard and Reserve:

quote:

b. The following loans qualify for repayment. However, these loans must have been incurred after 1 October 1975
or qualifying periods of Selected Reserve service after 1 Oct 80.
(1) Stafford Loan Program (formerly Guaranteed Student Loans (GSL)).
(2) Federally Insured Student Loans (FISL).
(3) Perkins Loan (formerly National Defense Student Loan and National Direct Student Loans (NDSL)).
(4) Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students (ALAS) .
(5) (Rescinded).
(6) Supplemental Loans for Students (SLS).
(7) Consolidated Loan Program (CLP).
(8) SMART Loans. (See para 5.1–9.)

I don't think the regular Army would be much different. Who here knows for sure?

Daddy Warcrimes, My loans do qualify as I have stafford loans.

I went to speak w/ the station commander as my recruiter is on leave. I give them all the info the cyber recruiter from USAREC gave me and now he claim I am not eligible because I was discharge and it has nothing to do with being "glossary non prior service" and that my recruiter is new and told me the wrong thing. I am being JERKED around. I did email the USAREC recruiter and advised him of what they are saying now. I find it amazing that when I get the info I need to get LRP their reason change.

Jsut wanted to add to this from personal experience. I enlisted active in 93, went to basic, jump school, then to dli where i was discharged for personal reasons. i was just short of 6 months so I fell into this "glossary non prior service". seemed like when it was benfitting me I was non prior but if it benifited the army I was prior. When I re-enlisted in july 2004 into the reserves I recieved the LRP and they also forgot to put the bonus addendum in my contract. I didn't find that out till I went to SRP and they pointed it out down there. All I had to do to get it was go to MEPS and see one of the counslers and they pulled up my contract and printed it off and gave it to me. Seems like our situation is similar so I can't see why they are giving you a hard time about it but I didn't really have much trouble?

xsinshinex, I have no clue why their giving me a hard time either. But I see your exactly your point about being labeled prior service one moment and then non prior service the next. So when you got your addendum was it for both the bonus and LRP or is the addendum only for the bonus?

The addendum I went back for was the bonus addendum. The LRP was already there. When I was at MEPS and signed everything I had signed the addendum they just forgot to print it and put it in my contract with my other paperwork. What I hated was I got a lower bonus than others who went into my MOS because I was "prior service" and they were not. But when I went to AIT I was classified as a non prior service IET soldier. I thought that it didn't matter if you were or were not as long as the MOS you choose has it as an incentive you should get it. Do yourself a favor and don't settle for what they give you, get what you want. You'll be happier later on if your do. I would try to get any issues with your contract fixed asap.