News for Vets from the VA

Colleagues and Fellow Veterans:

On October 1, 2013, the Departments of Labor and Veterans Affairs will no longer be accepting applications for the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), as the deadline to apply established in the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 will have been reached.   We are pleased to announce that VRAP has been overwhelmingly successful.  Over 142,000 Veterans applied with over 68,000 unemployed Veterans using the benefit program to date.  For those of you who helped us get the word out … thank you.

We continue to hear success stories – and encourage everyone to send us yours.  If you haven’t seen the video on our website on one VRAP success story, I encourage you to do so.  We recently put together another success story concerning our Vet Success on Campus program along with VRAP, you can see that on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdDWdgClSPY&feature=youtu.be

Although the application deadline has now closed, those Veterans who have received a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) for VRAP who have not yet started or completed their training can continue to use VRAP until March 2014.   If you are or know someone who has been issued a COE for VRAP, please encourage them to start their training as there are less than 6 months left in the program.  Let’s not let any of those 99,000 slots go unused.

V/R

Curtis L. Coy
Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity
Veterans Benefits Administration
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Washington, DC 20420

 Note:  We apologize in advance if we are unable to respond directly to your questions.

  Please Remember:

·       If you would like to review prior messages sent through this listserv, click http://benefits.va.gov/vow/economic_opportunity.htm.

·       If you would like to research, find, access, and, in time, manage your VA benefits and personal information please visit and/or register at https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits-portal/ebenefits.portal.

·       If you are seeking employment in the federal government, particularly the VA, our VA for Vets high-tech tools and resources can help.  Visit online at http://vaforvets.va.gov/Pages/default.aspx or contact a coach at 1-855-824-8387. 

·       If you would like to contact us about your VA education benefits

·       You can send us a secure email that will usually be answered within 48 hours or less. You can also search for answers to frequently asked questions and register to be notified of any updates to the information. This contact method is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can also be utilized worldwide. Click here to enter the "Ask A Question" site or here to review our frequently asked questions.

·       You can call 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551). This line only accepts calls from 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM central time Monday – Friday, though you are able to schedule a call back from a Customer Service Representative.