Eligibility

§ 2101. Eligibility (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, each member of the Armed Forces who served on active duty during the Korean conflict and who is discharged or released from active duty under honorable conditions, shall be eligible for mustering-out payment. (b) No mustering-out payment shall be made— (1) to any member of the Armed Forces who, at the time of discharge or release is in a pay grade higher than O–3, or if he is a commissioned officer, unless he was discharged or released before January 31, 1958; (2) to any member of the Armed Forces who, at the time of discharge or release is entitled to severance pay, or is transferred or returned to the retired list with retired pay, retirement pay, retainer pay, or equivalent pay, or to a status in which he receives such pay; except that this paragraph shall not apply upon retirement or separation pursuant to chapter 61 of title 10; (3) to any member of the Armed Forces for any active duty performed before the date of his discharge or release from active duty on his own initiative to accept employment, or in the case of any member so released from active duty, for any active duty performed before the date of his discharge while in such inactive status, unless he served outside the continental limits of the United States or in Alaska; (4) to any member of the Armed Forces whose total period of active duty has been as a student assigned by the Armed Forces to a civilian institution for a course of education or training substantially the same as established courses offered to civilians; (5) to any member of the Armed Forces for any active duty performed before the date of his discharge from such forces for the purpose of entering the United States Military, Air Force, Naval, or Coast Guard Academy; (6) to any member of the Armed Forces whose sole service has been as a cadet or midshipman at one of such academies; (7) to any member of the Armed Forces who has received mustering-out payments under title V of the Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952, or to any such member for any period elected by him to be taken into account in determining his eligibility for, or the amount of, mustering-out payment under the Mustering-Out Payment Act of 1944. 72 Stat. 1223 (c) Benefits shall not be afforded under this chapter to any individual on account of service as a commissioned officer of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, or of the Regular or Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service, unless such service would have qualified such individual for benefits under title V of the Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952.