Today we’re looking at one of the most underrated educational benefits available, though its availability is limited to wounded veterans (more precisely, veterans with a service-connected disability rating). It’s powerful; one can use it, and then use the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and then use it again. One can use it to obtain degrees or certifications not necessarily covered by traditional means. The goal is to get wounded veterans working and self-sufficient in dignified careers. If you’re a wounded veteran, enmired in unemployment, and despairing of what one can do to help one’s community or family, check out VR&E. You may be in for a very pleasant surprise.

THE BIG STORY

Know Your Education Benefits: Veteran Readiness & Employment

An exceptional educational benefit, VR&E comes with a catch

Over the past two days, we’ve examined the GI Bill, and state-by-state veterans educational benefits where they exist. The Post-9/11 GI Bill is a formidable benefit that, if fully earned, can transform not only one’s own educational path, but that of a spouse or dependent. Depending on the state one lives in, similar benefits may be available at the state level for the veteran, or for their spouse, children, dependents, or widow.

Today we consider the last of the great educational benefits available to veterans: Veteran Readiness & Employment or VR&E. Formerly known as Vocational Rehabilitation or “Voc Rehab,” VR&E is intended to ensure that wounded veterans end up in a dignified job that fits their skills. The idea is that having shed blood for their country, the veteran is owed if not a life of ease, at least a life where they can work without being subjected to many of the same outrages to which, perhaps, non-veterans must subject themselves.

If one qualifies for VR&E support — which can be granted at different percentage levels — one can expect the full measure of Post-9/11 GI Bill support, with an incredible caveat. Instead of support being capped at tuition and fees at the most expensive university in the state where the university the veteran is attending is located, VR&E will pay full tuition and fees at any college or university the veteran attends, no Yellow Ribbon Program needed — plus a subsistence allowance (this is usually much less than the Post-9/11 GI Bill’s BAH support, but much more than nothing) — plus eligibility does not expire — plus the money for books and reading materials — and yes, I feel like a Bob Barker or Pat Sajak here revealing the awards on one of those 80s-era gameshows, plus whatever other equipment or sundries are needed for a successful educational experience, such as a new laptop, subscriptions to needed computer programs, external hard drives, or whatever is needed.

VR&E is not limited to colleges or universities, either; it can enroll veterans in “On-The-Job” training programs, fellowships, internships, certification-granting programs, and other mechanisms for helping a veteran into work.

It’s difficult to overstate how generous and serious of a program this is. It delivers (as few other government programs do) the full measure of support to a wounded veteran. VR&E is an example of the government making and keeping a promise, and that’s worth highlighting. It’s a program to be proud of.

Unsurprisingly, VR&E comes with very strict eligibility requirements. One must have been honorably discharged. One must have a service connected disability. The education program to which one is applying must truly be connected to one’s skills. Interviews are involved. This benefit is powerful, and some gatekeeping is involved; necessarily so.

The only drawback of VR&E is that it entails some uncertainty; not everyone knows how to interact with it, and stories are not uncommon of people thinking they were approved at 100%, only to learn that the true approval rate was 20%, or that they were not approved at all; much depends on determining before matriculation that one has secured the benefit, and ensuring that the college or university administrators responsible for overseeing one’s experience understand that VR&E is different from the GI Bill or other benefits.

Provided that one can navigate applying for and receiving the benefit before beginning training or college, it’s a truly impressive benefit that can transform the life of a wounded veteran. If you suffer from a service-connected disability or know veterans who suffer from an injury they sustained while serving, and are at your wit’s end looking for help to get back to work helping your family or community, VR&E can be a true Godsend.

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Thoroughly reported story on the problem of raising taxes in the U.S. — we don’t actually do it enough at the federal level, according to the WSJ.

What if you were paying 3% on a mortgage, and wanted to sell your house? That might be an inducement to a buyer looking to lock that rate in, rather than the 7% or higher they’d get on the open market. A company is looking to make that scenario a reality. Veterans with VA Home Loans may encounter problems, though.

TOP READS IN THE MILITARY

Who will replace General Milley?

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TOP READS FOR VETERANS

Reminder to veterans that time is running out to enroll in the new PACT act.

Do post-9/11 veterans have an identity crisis? My personal hypothesis is that no, we don’t, we’re just unfamiliar with the post-modern identity paradigm with which everyone from that time period is grappling.

TOP READS AROUND THE WORLD

This is a read of the day — maybe week — there’s an authorized biography coming out about Senator Romney, and it looks from this piece to be underpromising and overdelivering. Must-read. If the newsletter’s out much later than 8:45am this morning, it’s because I got sidetracked reading the article, it’s fascinating.

China runs into a problem the US and Europe encountered in the 1950s; it’s tough to be an industrial power and have a consumer economy at the same time.

If you needed a counterargument to someone trying to convince you to take an Arctic pleasure cruise, and The Titanic wasn’t enough, how about this one?

North Korea and Russia move closer, no doubt confounding conservative Americans accustomed to seeing those countries as the worst existential threat to the U.S.

Evaluate risk from third-party websites that promise airline and hotel booking services.

HUMOR

This isn’t necessarily the funniest thing I’ve ever read but it really pushes boundaries.