The questions that show up after formation.

No. Recut from TRICARE.mil When Inactive: IDT (drill), annual training, and active service of 30 days or less stay on the inactive door. You may buy TRICARE Reserve Select. Line of duty care covers an injury on those orders. Family is not on LOD. More than 30 days of orders is the active-duty TRICARE door — that is a different start card.

You are not TRS for that stretch. Recut from TRICARE.mil: Selected Reserve members do not qualify for TRS on active-duty orders for more than 30 days, or while covered under TAMP. Personnel posts DEERS. Active-duty TRICARE starts on day one of the orders. Deactivating is a qualifying life event — 90 days to change the plan. Contingency / 12304b / national emergency: TAMP 180 days after, then buy TRS again if you still drill.

No. Recut from TRICARE.mil: Individual Ready Reserve members, including Navy Reserve Voluntary Training Units, do not qualify to purchase TRS. TRS is Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve. Retired Reserve is TRR, not TRS.

The Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service administers USERRA. Recut from ESGR.mil: Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve mediates for free — 800-336-4590, option 1 — and does not enforce the law. If you file with DOL VETS, ESGR will not open a mediation case. DOL: 866-487-2365, or VETS Form 1010 on dol.gov.

Usually no. Selected Reserve TRS is a purchase in Beneficiary Web Enrollment when you are eligible. FEDVIP vision is the one that waits for November. Do not mix the calendars.

No. AGR and Full-Time National Guard Duty sit on active-duty TRICARE — Prime or Prime Remote. TRS is a purchase for drilling Selected Reserve. Confirm DEERS, then enroll Prime. Family dental is TDP as an active-duty family.

No. National Guard is its own start card. Traditional ARNG and ANG still buy TRS when they are Selected Reserve and not FEHB-eligible. Dual-status technicians sit on FEHB — recut from TRICARE.mil, that lockout runs through 1 January 2030. State Active Duty is usually not TRICARE. State school money is a different pot from Chapter 1606.

Usually no. Recut from TRICARE.mil: if you are eligible for or enrolled in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, you do not qualify for TRS. That exclusion is written through 1 January 2030. Technician healthcare is FEHB / OPM, not BWE. Do not tap FEHB in the TRS form if you are not a fed — it will lock.

Recut from VA.gov eligibility: National Guard can qualify with 90 days of non-training Title 10, or 90 days including 30 consecutive under 32 USC 316, 502, 503, 504, or 505, or six creditable years. State Active Duty is not on that list. The COE application is the test.

DEERS has to show active duty first. Then the Plan Finder on your ZIP: Prime Service Area → Prime. Live AND work remote → Prime Remote. Enroll in milConnect → Benefits → Beneficiary Web Enrollment. TPR is often phone or mail if BWE will not take it. Zero premium for the sponsor. Family is a DEERS add-on, then a 90-day plan-change clock.

No. Active-duty sponsors — including AGR — pay no enrollment fee and no monthly premium for Prime or Prime Remote. Family members of active duty also pay nothing unless they use the point-of-service option. TRS premiums are the drilling product. Do not buy them while you are AGR.

Run the official Plan Finder on the ZIP. Near a military hospital or clinic is a Prime Service Area: enroll Prime. Live AND work more than 50 miles (or a one-hour drive) from a military hospital or clinic: enroll Prime Remote. One of those in town is not TPR. If neither fits, call East (Humana 800-444-5445) or West (TriWest 888-874-9378) — Prime can still work within 100 miles of a network PCM.

If you complete 20 years of active federal service, AGR time usually counts toward an active retirement with pay now — not gray area. 20 qualifying years without 20 active years is the reserve retirement / gray-area door. Confirm on the official BRS page and your points record.

No. Regular-component active duty enrolls Prime, Prime Remote, or the overseas Prime options based on the duty station. TRS is the drilling Selected Reserve purchase. AGR is the full-time Guard/Reserve card — same TRICARE door, different orders.

DEERS first. Then match the duty station: Plan Finder on a U.S. ZIP (Prime vs Prime Remote — remote is 50 miles / one-hour drive) or Prime Overseas if you are stationed overseas. Enroll in milConnect → Benefits → Beneficiary Web Enrollment. You must enroll. Zero premium for you. Family is a DEERS add-on (newborn 90 days stateside / 120 overseas), then a 90-day plan-change clock. Open Season does not apply to you, the sponsor.

No. TRICARE says Open Season does not apply to active duty service members. It is the window when families and retirees can swap Prime and Select without a qualifying life event. This year: 9 November through 8 December 2026, effective 1 January 2027 — confirm on TRICARE.mil. The sponsor still has to enroll the Prime option that matches the duty station. PCS, marriage, and a newborn are qualifying life events with their own 90-day clocks.

Usually yes, to enroll TRICARE Prime Overseas or Prime Remote Overseas. Non-command-sponsored family is a different insurance problem — not U.S. Select by default. Confirm with the TRICARE Area Office and the orders, not a group chat.

Because TDP is a different contract. TRS is medical. Teeth are United Concordia / TRICARE Dental Program, or FEDVIP dental if you are in the retiree lane. Two portals.

No. VA uses whole-person combined math. 50 + 30 is 65, which rounds to 70. Run the calculator, then look the diagnostic code up in 38 CFR.

180 to 90 days before you take the uniform off. Miss the window and you still file — you just wait longer, and the aid station is harder to reach.

It is a service determination documented in DEERS. If milConnect does not show it, call DEERS / your S-1 before you skip a civilian plan. Premium is zero. A surprise bill is not.

No. Three free months on a policy that is already current (Nov 2026–Jan 2027) is not extra conversion time. The 240-day clock still runs.

No. Selected Reserve TRS ends when you are Retired Reserve. TRR is the premium plan until retired pay. It is not TRS money.

No. VA.gov is free. Accredited VSOs are free. Anyone who wants a cut of back pay or a ‘unlock fee’ is optional and not required. Confirm accreditation on VA’s own list.

It locks a potential effective date while you gather evidence. You have one year to finish the claim. Starting 21-526EZ online with a verified Login.gov or ID.me account often does this without a separate 21-0966. One active intent at a time, per benefit type.

No. A secondary claim is a new disability linked to one you already have service-connected — 38 CFR 3.310. You still file. You still need a diagnosis. A private independent medical opinion is optional evidence. VA does not require you to buy one and does not reimburse it.

A Disability Benefits Questionnaire is a form a clinician fills in. Public PDFs are on VA.gov. Your own provider can complete one. VA will not pay or reimburse that bill. The claim exam VA schedules is free.

Yes. Tests they order are at no cost to you. A VA clinician or a contractor may do it. Missing the exam can delay the claim or get it decided on a thin file. If you had good cause, call 800-827-1000 and ask them to reschedule.

VA Form 20-10206, online. Request the claims file and the claim exams. The code sheet — the rater’s map of diagnostic codes — lives in that stack. Read it before you pick HLR vs supplemental.

New evidence → supplemental. Same file, you think they missed something → HLR. Want a Veterans Law Judge → Board. One lane at a time.

VA.gov military service records hands you to the National Archives eVetRecs tool. If you are filing a VA benefit, they often pull it — keep your own copy anyway.

No. Gray area is the 20-year letter with no retired pay. Once the paycheck starts — regular retirement or age-60/reduced Reserve retired pay — you reenroll retiree TRICARE (Prime or Select) within 90 days. TRR is the no-paycheck product. Open the Retiree bootcamp.

90 days from the retirement date to enroll Prime or Select, recut from TRICARE.mil Retiring. You may request retroactive enrollment up to 12 months. Miss both and you are space-available only. Enrollment fees apply to most retirees.

A premium bridge after TRICARE or TAMP ends. 18–36 months, same shape as Select. Buy within 60 days with DD Form 2837 to Humana Military and 90 days paid up front. It is not TAMP.

No. SBP is a retired-pay annuity for a survivor, elected on DD 2656. VGLI is life insurance converted from SGLI. VALife is whole life for rated veterans. Three products.

The public name is moving to SpouseWorks Scholarship. Up to $4,000 for a spouse license, certification, or associate degree. Recut 2026: eligible spouses of active duty, Guard, and Reserve on qualifying Title 10 — across ranks. Confirm the live fact sheet on Military OneSource.

Guaranteed-acceptance whole life up to $40,000 if you have a VA service-connected rating — even 0% — and you are 80 or under. Two-year wait for full coverage. Not VGLI. Apply on VA.gov.

Recut from FINRED / FSAFEDS: regular-component active duty and AGR can enroll in a health-care FSA on fsafeds.gov. Drilling Selected Reserve is a different rule. Open season, or 60 days after you become eligible. Not milConnect.

No. Reserve Component SBP is a 90-day clock from the Notification of Eligibility. DD 2656-5. Army 2026: IPPS-A. If you do nothing and you have a spouse or child, Option C is automatic. Retired pay itself still has to be applied for later.

No. You apply. Submit 9 months to 90 days before age 60 or your reduced-age date. Army: DD 108 + DD 2656 to HRC Gray Area Retirements. Work it with an RSO.

milConnect Transfer of Education Benefits, with a service obligation. The spouse cannot click it for the sponsor. VA.gov is where the dependent later files 22-1990e.

Run VA’s Comparison Tool with the school. Post-9/11, Montgomery, SR, and DEA are different pots. Then file 22-1990.

DEERS for TRICARE failures. MyVA411 or the benefits line for VA.gov. The number in a text message is the last number you should dial.

DEERS first — RAPIDS with the marriage or birth certificate. Then FSGLI in milConnect, CHAMPVA if they qualify as a veteran’s family, or DEA for school. The sponsor’s login is not their enrollment.

When you have Medicare Part A and Part B. Most people at 65. Gray-area retired pay is the age-60 (or reduced) line — TFL is still the Part B door. Confirm on TRICARE.mil and Medicare.gov.

A qualifying Reserve / Guard year is your anniversary year, not 1 January. 15 membership points plus drill, AT, and a few extras. Forty-nine is a lost year. IPPS-A or the state RPAM is the authority.

Sometimes. Qualifying active duty after 28 January 2008 in 90-day blocks can knock three months off age 60. Floor is 50. Weekend drill does not count. Confirm the days on the official points record.

File it in BTSSS on VA.gov. You have to be enrolled in VA health, and the appointment has to be VA or authorized community care. A civilian visit you booked yourself is not automatically mileage.