One of VA’s oldest benefits – Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E) – is now the Veteran Readiness and Employment Service. The service office will remain abbreviated VR&E, but the new name reemphasizes VBA’s mission to encourage, promote and support transitioning and service-connected disabled Veterans’ employment goals.

VA engaged in a comprehensive study with Veterans, service members, VR&E employees, and Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) to better understand the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement of the program. The result was that some users felt confusion and stigma with the program’s name and that it deterred some potential program participants from seeking services.

What is the Veteran Readiness and Employment Service?

Veteran Readiness and Employment Service is an employment program that uses five program tracks. These tracks help participants discover a new career path, uncover exciting employment opportunities, and succeed and grow in a chosen profession. VR&E provides benefits and services that enable transitioning service members and Veterans with service-connected disabilities and an employment barrier to prepare for, obtain, and maintain suitable employment, and to the maximum extent possible, achieve independence in daily living.

Five Program Tracks
  1. Reemployment: to successfully return participants to a civilian job they previously held.
  2. Rapid Access to Employment: to quickly secure employment with existing skills and experience.
  3. Self-Employment: to plan for and start a business.
  4. Employment through Long-Term Services: to obtain training and/or education, college or certification programs, on the job training, non-paid work experience, apprenticeships, and/or internships.
  5. Independent Living: to become self-sufficient – if the participant can’t return to work right away.

With VR&E, participants can:

  • Explore career goals and interests.
  • Pursue skilled professions or trades.
  • Select and map personal goals for employment.
  • Obtain formal education or training where tuition, fees, books and supplies are provided at no cost.
  • Maximize independence in life’s daily activities.

Learn more and apply today: https://www.va.gov/careers-employment/vocational-rehabilitation/
Read the official news release: https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5473


Ashley Gorbulja-Maldonado is a marketing specialist for VBA’s Office of Strategic Engagement.

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9 Comments

  1. Frederick July 18, 2020 at 20:09

    How do l sign up for classes

  2. O Martinez July 10, 2020 at 09:53

    Am I eligible to receive subsistence allowance while attending Rater challenge training and through my training program?

  3. Tracy Ellis July 9, 2020 at 16:17

    I agree with all my fellow vets. I’ve had to maneuver through this pretty much on my own once I finished school. No real help or assistance was available.

  4. Theresa Shelton July 9, 2020 at 10:56

    I have not had much luck with VRE. Since I started the program I have been assigned four different counselors. The only counselor I felt was there to guide and encourage was relocated. The veterans that are before 911 are given meager monetary assistance therefore have no other options than to work while trying to go to school while they push you to take more classes than you can handle. I was doing well in my studies while given little support by the program. I also had to literally fight for the computer and tools needed to succeed. By the way my GPA is 3.9.

  5. Kyle Visser July 8, 2020 at 23:59

    So my VR&E counselor didn’t know for over a month that she had ordered a third party in home assessment. Which took 2 weeks to complete. All the doctors note I had to get just to justify my request a sit/stand desk for school and work at home. To be denied say i can get you a shoe horn or a grab bar. But wait cant the Clinic get that for me the next day without a mountain or paperwork. VR&E is also supposed to talk with the medical side and work together. But NOPE. They make make you do so they don’t have to do anything. So unless you really need it or don’t mind a fight for whats promised to the Vets. Then go ahead otherwise dont count on the VR&E.

  6. Matt Balkwill July 8, 2020 at 23:20

    First off – Sean, really sorry you had a bad experience with your local VR&E office but sometimes it takes another crack at it ( situation dependent of course) with another VRC. This is a pretty cool move IMO, particularly with capturing skill sets earned while in service. I believe that the military has largely perfected an apprenticeship system (based on MOS) that the private sector craves. I also believe that it extends well beyond occupations that easily transfer, for example medic & transportation MOS’s, to include those that are more intrinsically skilled. This dovetails well with recent legislation identifying skills as a priority to more formal education in federal hiring decisions. Right on VA.

  7. Evan Love July 8, 2020 at 19:51

    I applied a month ago n no response

  8. Melissa Mathis July 7, 2020 at 20:24

    I was able to get help from them earlier then the Pandemic hit. But I am curious to know if We have a time frame in which we can get assistance after leaving the military. I heard it had to be within a six year window?

  9. Sean Tigert July 7, 2020 at 14:30

    VR&E is a joke there program is set up to make you fail. If anyway possible avoid there services at all cost. They do not want to help veterans. If anything it should us as veterans protesting against the corrupt bureaucrats that set veterans up for failure. Take my word for it stay away from VR&E.

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