Commencement; time limitations

§ 1612. Commencement; time limitations (a) No eligible veteran shall be entitled to initiate a program of education or training under this chapter after three years after his discharge or release from active duty. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, any otherwise eligible veteran whom the Administrator determines to have been prevented from initiating a program of education or training under this chapter within the period prescribed by this subsection because he had not met the nature of discharge requirements of section 1601 (a)(2)(B) of this title before a change, correction, or modification of a discharge or dismissal made pursuant to section 1553 of title 10, the correction of the military records of the proper service department under section 1552 of title 10, or other corrective action by competent authority, shall be permitted to initiate a program of education or training under this chapter within three years after whichever is later. September 1, 1958, or the date his discharge or dismissal was so changed, corrected, or modified. 72 Stat. 1177 (b) The program of education and training of an eligible veteran under this chapter shall, on and after the delimiting date for the veteran to initiate his program, be pursued continuously until completion, except that an eligible veteran may suspend the pursuit of his program for periods of not more than 12 consecutive months, and may suspend the pursuit of such program for longer periods if the Administrator finds that the suspension for each such period was due to conditions beyond the control of the eligible veteran. (c) If an eligible veteran returned to active duty before February 1, 1955, his date of discharge or release shall, for the purposes of this section and section 1613 of this title, be the date of his discharge or release from his last period of active duty which began before February 1, 1955.