Nope eligible person does not HAVE to join. Does it make it easier? Sure. But not a requirement. My Mom joined with her brother's info easy peasy. You have to do it over the phone or in branch since you won't have a sponsor #. Just make SURE they put eligible person's info in your acct!!! I can't stress that enough. Mom had his DOB,rank and even base he was located when he retired. I have seen many shutdown because the info was not on the account and when it went thru security it appeared there was no sponsor at all.
