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Pesticide20 posted:Outside of veterans choice and emergency care I've found that the therapists at vet centers are pretty good I actually use the Vet Center for my weekly headshrinking, and just do psychiatric through my insurance lucky me update to mine: sent back the packet to ask for a reconsider from the PEB. Why not. I gathered from the attorney and the lady who took my paperwork at the TDRL office I'll be going to court (formal PEB) in May or June, should take about six weeks to get a date. Luckily it's during break from class It seems like they go out of their way to say that if you pick the fight over the severance, You'll have to take your rear end to appear at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington D.C. Just imagine some E-3 with no time gets dick cancer and gets tdrl'd and these fucks send this letter to intimidate him out of fighting for his pittance of a retirement. Hell, bad enough some loser schmuck lifer like me gets shitcanned before his 20 is up and this is what they do. Maybe I'm just coloring it this way because I'm angry and feeling betrayed.
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Feb 17, 2017 21:40
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I had a bad experience with the only psychiatrist at my local VA clinic and told the main hospital about it and they referred me to a third party through Veterans' Choice. Not saying make poo poo up about your doc, but that's how I got it done. E: he prescribed me benzos AFTER I told him I have substance issues with benzos.
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Feb 17, 2017 22:20
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Gonna second the vet center suggestion. Somebody mentioned it in here a couple months ago and I gave it a shot. It's way better than the regular ol' VA that's hit or miss at best.
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Feb 18, 2017 01:33
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Ran in to an odd Post 9/11 issue. I'm in my final semester of business school and the money for tuition came through fine but the BAH payments have dried up. I dug through my accounts to double check and they actually didn't pay me for the week of classes in December either so now they're about 3 months behind schedule. Anyone run into this before and have suggestions? It's really irritating considering I'm about 2.5 months away from never dealing with this again and now the VA decides to bungle something.
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Mar 1, 2017 06:45
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So I got my award last year for 20%. I'm still in the Guard, and what we were told during our VA brief is you can file the waiver for keeping drill pay and waiving VA pay for drill weekends. I found the form online, but I can't find any information on how to submit it. I can't find out if I can mail it in, email it in or what. Does anyone have any idea how the hell I send this in so I don't end up with a multi-thousand dollar debt in the future?
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Mar 17, 2017 03:21
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What the gently caress, we were NOT told that in my TAPS brief.  Goddamnit.
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Mar 17, 2017 04:26
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Godholio posted:What the gently caress, we were NOT told that in my TAPS brief. Yeah, you can only be paid either drill/active pay or receive your VA compensation. The form is VA form 21-8951-2. I really only understand about this because I had a soldier who was picked up for a counter-drug 3 year tour, filed the form, they never processed it, and because he was 90%, 3 years ended up being like $30k or something ridiculous. I had to sign a bunch more forms and do memos to even get him on a payment plan. edit: You only have to opt out for duty days, not the whole month. Essentially you give up 1 day of compensation for 1 day of full drill pay/active duty pay. It usually means you make more money taking the drill pay.
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Mar 17, 2017 04:41
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zharmad posted:Yeah, you can only be paid either drill/active pay or receive your VA compensation. The form is VA form 21-8951-2. I really only understand about this because I had a soldier who was picked up for a counter-drug 3 year tour, filed the form, they never processed it, and because he was 90%, 3 years ended up being like $30k or something ridiculous. I had to sign a bunch more forms and do memos to even get him on a payment plan. More like 48k if he is single with no kids.  It just gets juicier if they are married with kids.
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Mar 18, 2017 07:57
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I'm trying to get approved for Voc Rehab and I've already got a very solid plan on exactly what I want to do and how I'll achieve it. I hear it is a lot easier and faster to get a plan approved when you come in prepared. I've been reading through M28R, the Voc Rehab and Employment Service Manual, but I haven't found the section on what exactly they need for plan. Does anyone happen to have a plan, with details removed, that I can use as a template?
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Apr 14, 2017 18:43
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Delizin posted:I'm trying to get approved for Voc Rehab and I've already got a very solid plan on exactly what I want to do and how I'll achieve it. I hear it is a lot easier and faster to get a plan approved when you come in prepared. I've been reading through M28R, the Voc Rehab and Employment Service Manual, but I haven't found the section on what exactly they need for plan. Does anyone happen to have a plan, with details removed, that I can use as a template? You'll put the actual plan together with your counselor as part of the process
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Apr 14, 2017 18:45
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Delizin posted:I'm trying to get approved for Voc Rehab and I've already got a very solid plan on exactly what I want to do and how I'll achieve it. I hear it is a lot easier and faster to get a plan approved when you come in prepared. I've been reading through M28R, the Voc Rehab and Employment Service Manual, but I haven't found the section on what exactly they need for plan. Does anyone happen to have a plan, with details removed, that I can use as a template? yeah it's not anything you have to do. Just apply. You'll sit down with your counselor and get the plan together. Your ducks in a row for that meeting will make things go more smoothly.
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Apr 14, 2017 18:46
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I'm a bit worried because of the extent of my injuries and that my plan involves working with firearms which the VA has special rules regarding. Back in January I applied for a very competitive and well regarded and accredited gunsmithing associate degree program and I've made it through all the selection rounds so far with the final decision on if I'll make it in coming at the end of the month. I've put together my list of goals, rehab timeline, gainful employment disclosure for the program, itemized cost list for the program and tools, and the steps that I will be taking to mitigate the effect of disabilities. It looks like I can keep the expense below the $25k/year limit and I am fine buying my own firearms if that keeps me from having to jump through all the extra hoops. Anything else you guys would recommend bringing to that first meeting?
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Apr 14, 2017 18:58
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Jeez I was gonna do voc rehab to get my accounting masters. You gotta do all that?
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Apr 14, 2017 19:01
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I opted out of Voc Rehab when she wanted a list of all my meds and wanted to track that poo poo. My buddy is going through voc rehab, and like first year college students are prone to do, decided he wanted to change his program. His counselor made him go get psyche evals before he would approve that. I'm not saying VR is bad but it's kinda invasive imo.
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Apr 14, 2017 19:02
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Delizin posted:I'm a bit worried because of the extent of my injuries and that my plan involves working with firearms which the VA has special rules regarding. Back in January I applied for a very competitive and well regarded and accredited gunsmithing associate degree program and I've made it through all the selection rounds so far with the final decision on if I'll make it in coming at the end of the month. A smile and winning attitude? It sounds like you've got pretty much everything you need, now you just get to deal with the VA
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Apr 14, 2017 19:03
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My experience of using the GI bill for undergrads and applying for Vic Rehab for my professional degree seems to be going well, provided my recent evals get me rated to 20%(gently caress me). Guess I'll report back in 4 months
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Apr 14, 2017 19:41
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Delizin posted:I'm a bit worried because of the extent of my injuries and that my plan involves working with firearms which the VA has special rules regarding. Back in January I applied for a very competitive and well regarded and accredited gunsmithing associate degree program and I've made it through all the selection rounds so far with the final decision on if I'll make it in coming at the end of the month. The only hangup I had with the process was an acceptance to a school. If I had to do it again I would have that in hand. It didn't change my counselor's decision about me or affect me negatively. There was just a lot of waiting. You're going to also need a degree plan from the school. Something that includes a timeline for completion and the list of classes they'll approve. Once your degree plan is signed off your job is to make it through the program.
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Apr 14, 2017 21:11
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Elsa posted:The only hangup I had with the process was an acceptance to a school. If I had to do it again I would have that in hand. It didn't change my counselor's decision about me or affect me negatively. There was just a lot of waiting. You're going to also need a degree plan from the school. Something that includes a timeline for completion and the list of classes they'll approve. Once your degree plan is signed off your job is to make it through the program. I plan on applying to grad school next January/February. And possibly starting in the summer (May). Will that be enough time to apply, get accepted, and get voc rehab figured out?
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Apr 14, 2017 21:14
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Thanks for the insight everyone. I will find out if I get into the program in two weeks and immediately after that I'll turn in my paperwork and begin the waiting game. If it all works out I'll get to play with guns again on Uncle Sam's dime, but hopefully this time without being surrounded by idiots ruining what should be a good time.
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Apr 14, 2017 21:27
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TBeats posted:I plan on applying to grad school next January/February. And possibly starting in the summer (May). Will that be enough time to apply, get accepted, and get voc rehab figured out? You're already rated over 20% right? The idea of voc rehab is to get you employable, which my councilor explained to me typically is achieved once you get a bachelor's degree. If, however, you start professional school or a graduate program with a particular field in mind on your post 9/11 gi bill and then apply for voc rehab then your chances are much better for getting that career path approved. This is something you can talk over with your councilor. If you sign up for the program on ebenefits then it will tell you when the next enrollment session in your area is. This is of course how I had it explained it me, and might not completely reflect what the actual parameters of the program are.
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Apr 14, 2017 21:33
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Kawasaki Nun posted:You're already rated over 20% right? The idea of voc rehab is to get you employable, which my councilor explained to me typically is achieved once you get a bachelor's degree. If, however, you start professional school or a graduate program with a particular field in mind on your post 9/11 gi bill and then apply for voc rehab then your chances are much better for getting that career path approved. This is something you can talk over with your councilor. If you sign up for the program on ebenefits then it will tell you when the next enrollment session in your area is. okay. i have enough gi bill to get at least one semester of grad school in.
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Apr 14, 2017 21:40
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I've found dealing with the VA that it is best to keep the regs handy, because often you are dealing with people that may not be intimately familiar with them, but think that they are. For VR&E that seems to be M28R, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service Manual. It has been helpful for me in preparing my application and figuring out how to make it more likely that I will get my plan approved. For example, at first I was planning on trying to go for the self employment route since prior to the Army I had ran a successful small business for many years. After reviewing the requirements for self employment and the limits of the program, I decided my best would be to change my tactics and focus on rehabilitating myself for employment.
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Apr 14, 2017 22:00
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TBeats posted:I plan on applying to grad school next January/February. And possibly starting in the summer (May). Will that be enough time to apply, get accepted, and get voc rehab figured out? Getting my initial appointment took a month, and then I had some things to gather like job listings for my desired career (5+ ads from solid sources like monster, careerbuilder, and state job registries). My acceptance letter, and the degree plan (which involves your school registrar's office). Each time I needed something we agreed on another appointment three weeks later. I'd say four months before the course start date is a comfortable minimum window to give yourself, assuming you have the acceptance and five current job listings. My counselor preferred emailed PDF copies of my required documents as I received them. Depending on the school, generating your degree plan could take a few days to a couple weeks and require you visiting in person and making sure your file is being pushed forward. Active control kind of thing. I tried a trade school and a university, and the trade school was incredibly motivated to provide me what I needed for VR&E. The university was pretty much the opposite and more of a typical large, lumbering organization.
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Apr 14, 2017 22:01
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I can't get to my paperwork for a while, perhaps a week, but when I do I'll post some checklists I received from my counselor. Things that weren't given to me until I showed up and attended the briefings and my appointments.
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Apr 14, 2017 22:02
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Just want to update: I got my VR&E file and I'll post the checklists after I scrub my name and last four. Gimme like six hours. Checklist:    I'll skip to the items that are important. Item 1 is a letter you will receive from the VA after signing up for VR&E. The one item you might have to wait on no matter what, the letter confirming you are eligible for VR&E. That is three weeks after your first appointment with your counselor. 2: An online questionnaire that is half IQ test, and half a self-reported questionnaire of likes and dislikes. http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/careerscope.asp It asks if you would like to do admin things versus physical labor work, or teaching, etc. It's very obvious whether you should answer yes or no based on the career field you think you are suited for. 5: order transcripts sent to you in sealed envelopes, and bring them with you. Your integrity isn't under question here, they just want to see what your academic background has been like. Your school will have more knowledge of your schools attended through the national student clearinghouse http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/ It's a sort of credit report for students, and it keeps track of any discrepancies like unpaid tuition. Your VR&E counselor just wants a sense of what you've studied and how you've performed. The acceptance notification from the school you want to attend carries far more weight here. I was able to view my national student clearinghouse record from a login through my old community college portal. Your admissions counselor at school can easily provide a list of schools in your record for you. 7: They want to see the working copy of the resume you'll use to apply for jobs after finishing school. No need to have performance anxiety over this or be a perfectionist. There are resume services available through VR&E. 9: You can request a certificate of eligibility online now. Go to https://gibill.custhelp.com and create an account and submit an "ask a question." A basic "Hi I'd like a copy of my certificate of eligibility mailed to me please, Thank you!" and it creates an "incident report." You'll receive your COE in the mail within a week. 10: bring a blank check 13: search for job listings in the career you want to enter and print them out. Can be from monster.com or careerbuilder. The schools I considered had links for employment in the related fields for each degree program. Those work too. This is a very loose requirement. They just want to see there are job offers available. 15: For me, most of this was satisfied between my academic counselor and my VR&E counselor. I gave them each other's contact info and they contacted each other. A cost sheet is very simple and for one school of mine was this:  The degree plan is just like any other student's degree plan and requires an audit if you have transfer credits. It's something you will need from your registrar's office. 16: Most of this is provided in pamphlets from your school. My counselor was interested in job placement rates, but the job listings satisfies most of that requirement. VR&E is heavily weighted on your counselor's confidence in you and in my case I showed her my art portfolio and just made sure I was a functioning human being. I got the sense that my counselor wanted to help me navigate this program and was on my side. I signed up for my first appointment in person at my local VR&E office. There are several locations for this and my admissions counselor at Art Institute told me which office she was used to working with. I suggest calling a school advisor to ask the same thing. I recall the VA website lists several locations for my city, but my advisor strongly recommended a particular office by address. There is a "high cost school" category beyond $24k a year but that can be over-ridden with a high cost school memo from your VR&E counselor. My counselor also asked if I needed a laptop or housing. I declined but I assume it was because VR&E also provides assistance for these things. Hope that helps. Anagram of GINGER fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Apr 20, 2017 |
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Apr 20, 2017 00:25
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does the VA give out weed yet im ready for some skilcraft weed
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Apr 20, 2017 10:57
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I'm working through voc stuff now so I appreciate the effort post. I will already have a year completed at my grad program before I complete the process. Do you know if they would pay for my last year even though I'm already started? Or god forbid reimburse my first year?
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Apr 20, 2017 14:09
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TheAlphaChaser posted:I'm working through voc stuff now so I appreciate the effort post. I will already have a year completed at my grad program before I complete the process. Do you know if they would pay for my last year even though I'm already started? Or god forbid reimburse my first year? It's probably not a hard case to make. If you can convince your counselor that your grad program would be good for your future, it's not a stretch to say you just need help. Reimbursing school you've already taken doesn't sound like anything I've heard, but keep looking.
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Apr 20, 2017 14:29
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Reverand maynard posted:does the VA give out weed yet It's still schedule 1 and illegal according to the feds. Edit: Skilcraft weed is basically what the gov't uses for testing, apparently. It's made the news a few times for how lovely and unlike COTS weed it is.
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Apr 20, 2017 14:30
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Elsa posted:It's probably not a hard case to make. If you can convince your counselor that your grad program would be good for your future, it's not a stretch to say you just need help. Reimbursing school you've already taken doesn't sound like anything I've heard, but keep looking. Since you need 150 education hours to sit for the CPA, and you usually finish that out by getting a masters in accounting, and getting a CPA increases your employability, getting voc rehab for grad school shouldn't be a stretch, right? Accountants/auditors are always in demand.
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Apr 20, 2017 14:34
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Reverand maynard posted:does the VA give out weed yet "Made with pride by Americans who are high"
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Apr 20, 2017 14:55
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TBeats posted:Since you need 150 education hours to sit for the CPA, and you usually finish that out by getting a masters in accounting, and getting a CPA increases your employability, getting voc rehab for grad school shouldn't be a stretch, right? Accountants/auditors are always in demand. Yeah it sounds like a good idea. Your counselor will probably like to hear that you've always wanted to do it, or that you've shown some strong ability in that area.
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Apr 20, 2017 18:25
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The only federally legal weed is grown at Ole Miss and tops out at like 6% THC and usually arrives in the form of mostly stems. We have poo poo federally backed studies into Marijuana because of this setup.
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Apr 21, 2017 10:23
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Just another heads up, there's a result for the IQ test portion of that online questionnaire. If you're going for something like accounting your counselor would have more faith in your plan if you score high on the math portion. Half way through the math questions I started having severe mental block and kept thinking about how there are iphone apps that will solve the problems for me instantly. I just stopped trying to calculate the problems and made my best guesses. My results were this  The last three (Motor Coordination, Finger Dexterity, Manual Dexterity) aren't covered by the online test. I heard they're given at the VR&E center if it's relevant to your career. 50 / 100 is the default values.
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Apr 23, 2017 23:07
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TheAlphaChaser posted:I'm working through voc stuff now so I appreciate the effort post. I will already have a year completed at my grad program before I complete the process. Do you know if they would pay for my last year even though I'm already started? Or god forbid reimburse my first year? Technically it is possible to get reimbursement according to the Voc Rehab handbook, but I don't know how difficult it is to get in practice. Retroactive Induction VA may authorize payment for tuition, fees, and other verifiable expenses that an individual incurred, as well as establish payment of a subsistence allowance for a period of training, when it is determined that those services and training are consistent with the individual’s approved rehabilitation plan. a. Criteria for Retroactive Induction A program of rehabilitation and assistance may be approved retroactively when the following conditions are met, per 38 CFR 21.282: • The period for which retroactive induction is requested is within the individual’s basic period of eligibility or extended eligibility as provided in 38 U.S.C. 3103 and 38 CFR 21.41 through 21.44. • The Veteran is entitled to disability compensation during the period for which retroactive induction is requested. • The individual meets the criteria of entitlement to VR&E services for the requested period. • The training pursued during the retroactive period is determined to be suitable for achieving the vocational goal of the individual’s rehabilitation plan. I'd suggest reading the entire section 2.05 on page 9: http://www.benefits.va.gov/WARMS/docs/admin28/M28R/Part_IV/pt04_ch02%20secC.pdf Elsa, thank you for all that info. That is tremendously helpful. I'm beginning my 8 hour drive to the school tomorrow then completing my faculty interview first thing Friday morning. Then hopefully I'll know if I get into the program Friday or early next week. Wish me luck.
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Apr 27, 2017 05:29
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Delizin posted:Technically it is possible to get reimbursement according to the Voc Rehab handbook, but I don't know how difficult it is to get in practice. yeah you too that blows my mind
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Apr 27, 2017 07:20
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so did that dude end up enlisting as chemical or what
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Apr 28, 2017 18:56
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Just got a letter from my prospective school today letting me know that I was accepted into the program for the fall semester. Tomorrow I am meeting with my local VSO to go over my Voc Rehab paperwork and plan before submitting it to the VA. He isn't a VR&E counselor, the nearest one is like 220 miles away as far as I know, but he seems to know the system pretty well. Elsa, I really appreciate you posting those images and providing that write up on what your counselor wanted. I've gone ahead and gotten almost that entire packet together in anticipation for meeting with counselor. My hope is that by coming in fully prepared they will be more likely to green light everything for me and get it done in time for the fall semester or shortly after.
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May 3, 2017 20:37
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Something really weird happened today I thought I'd share. So, a couple years ago, I started an application for disability. I procrastinated on it, because I knew I had 365 days, and because it was for PTSD which was pretty stressful for me to have to recall and document every detail again. I kept amassing evidence and documents and people to vouch for me, and went to file it on like the second to last day... except the loving site was straight down for the final two days... no one could get to it. I think it was actually a 4 or 5 day eBenefits outage at the time. "It's my fault for waiting so long, oh well." I think I said at the time. I had to redo the whole thing over as they purged the application after the 365 days. I submitted it a month later, it was approved after about 6 months and the payments began, I'm happy, the end. Today, I check my bank statement, and I see a $16,000+ surprise payment for "VA COMPENSATION 2015-2016, retroactive", as in they randomly decided to backpay me from the time I submitted the original application. Now, I don't remember bringing this up to them... maybe I made an offhand comment in my second application about how I'm such a disorganized mess from PTSD that I hosed up my first application. But I didn't press the issue since "deadline's the deadline" with all things government. So someone randomly revisited this and went out of their way to drop 16k in my lap... am I lucky as gently caress, or is Uncle Sam going to ask for it back the moment I find a way to spend it?
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May 18, 2017 01:42
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I'd keep that amount handy for six months just in case.
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May 18, 2017 01:48
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