The Welcome Home Bonus — Paid Again for Every New Deployment
Massachusetts pays a cash bonus for service on or after 11 September 2001: $1,000 for a first deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan or another DoD imminent-danger location, or $500 for a first six months of continuous active service elsewhere. The part most people miss is that it is NOT once in a lifetime — a subsequent deployment pays $500 again if it was to an imminent-danger area, or $250 for six months in direct support of the Global War on Terrorism. The test is residency BEFORE service: you must have lived in Massachusetts for the six months immediately before you entered. Guard and Reserve service counts. If a member died on active service the family may claim $1,000.
Verified August 27, 2026
What this benefit is
Massachusetts pays a cash bonus for service on or after 11 September 2001: $1,000 for a first deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan or another DoD imminent-danger location, or $500 for a first six months of continuous active service elsewhere. The part most people miss is that it is NOT once in a lifetime — a subsequent deployment pays $500 again if it was to an imminent-danger area, or $250 for six months in direct support of the Global War on Terrorism. The test is residency BEFORE service: you must have lived in Massachusetts for the six months immediately before you entered. Guard and Reserve service counts. If a member died on active service the family may claim $1,000.
What it's worth: $500–$1,000 for a first bonus, and $250–$500 again for each later qualifying deployment
- $1,000 for a first deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan or another location designated by the Department of Defense as an imminent-danger area.
- $500 for a first period of six months' continuous active service elsewhere.
- SUBSEQUENT DEPLOYMENTS PAY AGAIN: $500 for a later imminent-danger deployment, $250 for a later six months in direct support of the Global War on Terrorism.
- $1,000 where the member died on active service, claimable by the family.
- National Guard and Reserve service counts.
- The residency test looks at the six months IMMEDIATELY BEFORE entering service.
- Where the member has died, the order of entitlement runs spouse, then children, then parents, then siblings, then other dependants.
Who is entitled to it
- You are in one of the groups the bonus reaches.
- Your service was under honorable conditions.
- The service was on or after 11 September 2001.
- You lived in Massachusetts for the six months before entering service.
- Massachusetts pays this bonus.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1Apply through the Veterans' Bonus Division at the Office of the State Treasurer — not through the Executive Office of Veterans Services.
- 2Have your DD214 for the deployment you are claiming. Each deployment is claimed on its own facts.
- 3If you have deployed more than once, claim for each one. A later deployment does not cancel an earlier bonus.
- 4Be ready to show where you lived in the six months before you entered service — a tax return, licence or lease from that period.
- 5Guard and Reserve members: bring the orders as well as the DD214, since the DD214 alone may not show the deployment location.
- Form
- Welcome Home Bonus application, Veterans' Bonus Division
- File with
- Office of the State Treasurer, Veterans' Bonus Division
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- No renewal
- Once granted it does not need renewing.
Sources
- authority · published policyMassachusetts — Welcome Home Bonus eligibility and payment amounts
- operating · statuteActs of 2005 c.130, amended by Acts of 2009 c.132 and Acts of 2011 c.130 and c.171 — Massachusetts Veterans' Laws and Benefits
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.