Idaho National Guard soldiers leave for a 12-month deployment to the Middle East in 2021. Because of faulty data, reserve component members were overpaid millions of dollars in disability benefits, according to a Rand Corp. report released July 25, 2023. (Thomas Alvarez/Idaho Army National Guard)
The military for years has underreported the time reservists and National Guard members served on active duty, which a new study says could affect eligibility for benefits such as the Post 9/11 GI Bill in many cases.
The study, released Tuesday by the Rand Corp. research institution, also found that the Department of Veterans Affairs overpaid $11 million in disability cash to reserve component members, who generally are required to pay back that money.
The Army National Guard on average underreported the time its members served on active duty by an average of 18 days, Rand found over a study period lasting from January 2015 through June 2021.
Conversely, the Coast Guard Reserve overreported its members’ active service during that time by an average of 12 days, the Rand report said.
The military’s other reserve components generally calculate duty time accurately, the study found.
Guard members and reservists, who are part of the military’s reserve component but serve in different state and federal capacities, need at least 90 days of qualifying active service to be eligible for GI Bill benefits.
At most, 150,000 reserve component members could have their eligibility affected because the date they entered service, known as the initial active duty for training, is recorded incorrectly, according to the report.
Data entry errors on active-duty service time also could affect eligibility for Tricare, the military’s health care system, the report said.
Meanwhile, about 11% of all reserve component members were eligible for disability pay during the study period, according to Rand. But they don’t receive that money from the VA while they are activated and receiving military pay.
The underreported service time results in disability overpayments, which creates an administrative burden for the VA and a hassle for service members who already may have spent the money they need to repay.
Army National Guard officials told Rand’s researchers they do not report most annual training segments or other short segments, which would account for the discrepancy, the report said.
Reservists are required to log their service time with the Defense Manpower Data Center, which then puts it into a Guard and Reserve Active Service file.
Rand Corp. compared GRAS data with payment files, which are considered more likely to be accurate because service members see their pay and have an incentive to correct errors.
Rand Corp. provided several recommendations to improve GRAS data quality, including adjusting reporting and changing data validation procedures.
