12 Jun National Guard & Reserve Benefits
A lot of the time National Guard and Reserve members are not fully knowledgeable on what benefits they are eligible for. Luckily, the Veterans Affairs is there to help. The VA actually has a separate listing of benefits and compensation available for these types of members. These benefits are specifically designed to help with any of the important needs a service member would have to deal with after retiring from service and having to make that difficult transition back to a normal civilian lifestyle.
The VA offers benefit help in areas such as loans, insurance, health care, education and more. Here we will dive into the specifics of how to become eligible and all the requirements necessary to do so. These are a few things on the list of requirements to be eligible for these benefits through the VA. These include:
- being a veteran
- being a spouse or child of that veteran
- being dependent on a veteran of the National Guard & Reserve.
The VA also offers a program known as the “Veteran Community Care” program. This offers a larger variety of care and can be a better option for veterans. This includes emergency care, home care, shots and medicine, helping with appointments and scheduling and much more.
The idea of this is that the VA connects the veteran with community providers in their specific area or location. This way, if the VA can not directly help the veteran, nearby providers working with the VA can provide that help desired by the veteran. The VA allows this if a veteran meets the certain criteria necessary. The criteria to be eligible for this include requirements such as:
- Medically, it makes sense to be using community care for your specific condition and needs
- In need of assistance or a service that is not available at a VA location
- 30-60 minute drive times to facilities, depending on type of treatment being received
- Veteran must reside in state without a VA medical location
The Veterans Affairs also gives 5 years of healthcare for certain veterans. The veterans that are eligible for this are those that served in Afghanistan and/or Iraq. This gives these veterans of the National Guard and Reserve no limits for VA services and or locations. They can access or visit any locations they please to.
For Home Loan benefits, some of the requirements include having 6 years of service, having served for 90 or more days of active duty, never dishonorably discharged. Each of these benefits has its unique set of rules and criteria that needs to be met, so do not assume you qualify for all benefits if you are to qualify for one.
Another great tool that the VA offers is for those interested in their education. The VA helps financially with things such as degrees, training, licenses and much more. For those interested and returning to school and furthering their education, this is a great opportunity to do so!
One of the most important parts of this is the compensation available for those disabled from service. This compensation is paid monthly to the veteran. An important thing to remember is that a disability does not always mean just an injury, this includes mental illnesses as well. An example of this would be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This also helps cover any of the disabilities that could have come from training as well.