Can I Use My Selected Reserve GI Bill and Post 9/11 GI Bill Together?
Q: I am deploying soon and was wondering if I can use my Selected Reserve GI Bill and my Post 9/11 GI Bill together once I get back from the tour?
A: And the answer is “Yes” and “No”. Under the Rule of 48, if you are eligible for two or more GI Bills, the maximum combined months of entitlement is capped at 48. So with that in mind, you have a couple of ways to use your GI Bills.
One, you could transfer your remaining unused Montgomery GI Bill – Selected Reserve (MGIB-SR) entitlement over to the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Or two, you could use up all of your MGIB-SR entitlement first, switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill and get an additional 12 months of entitlement bringing up your total to 48 months. However, if you bring over your unused MGIB-SR entitlement to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you don’t get the additional 12 months, so it is an either/or situation.
So with either option, yes you can use your GI Bills together. However, if you meant that you wanted to draw a monthly benefit from both of them at the same time, then no. Under the GI Bills rules, if you bring entitlement over from another GI Bill, you then lose your ability to further use that GI Bill. So if you bring over your MGIB-SR entitlement, you exhaust that GI Bill and you have nothing left to use.
However, there is a considerable difference in what each GI Bill pays, and even if you are at the 60% Post 9/11 GI Bill tier, it still pays far more than the MGIB-SR.
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