05/11/12

Social Security and Department of Defense Implement New Process to Improve Efficiency for Wounded Warriors Applying for Disability Benefits

Electronic Medical Records Will Reduce Time for a Decision The Social Security Administration and the Department of Defense (DoD) are working together to improve access to disability benefits for the nation’s Wounded Warriors, service members, veterans, and their dependents. A new nationwide project enables Social Security disability case processing sites to receive military medical records from multiple DoD facilities with a single request to a centralized DoD site. As of today, this initiative is in its first phase of nationwide expansion. “Receiving electronic medical records for our Wounded Warriors and other military personnel will significantly shorten the time it takes to make a disability decision,” said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security. “This new process will improve the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of the disability program.” Originally a pilot, the program included five states (Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington) and more than 60 military treatment facilities. These states are now receiving electronic medical records within 72 hours, a remarkable improvement over the previous average response time of five weeks for paper records from individual military treatment facilities. The new DoD-Social Security collaboration consolidates requests for medical records from Social Security to a single location that has access to DoD records in a central electronic repository. This central location receives and responds to requests for medical records based on Social Security’s Electronic Records Express (www.socialsecurity.gov/ere), another successful initiative that offers electronic options for submitting health records related to disability claims.

05/07/12

Connecting Transitioning Soldiers with Job Opportunities

Our Soldiers, Veterans, and Families face a number of challenges transitioning from military to civilian life. Among these challenges is finding a productive, post-military career. We have a responsibility to ensure our transitioning personnel have the support they need and deserve prior to separating and entering the civilian workforce. We have conducted multiple transition studies and determined there was a need to better prepare our Soldiers for post-military service and enhance opportunities to connect Soldiers with the private sector. As a result, we published a new Transition Policy in August 2011 and later an Execution Order to focus on immediate transition policy actions. Also, we are supporting the White House Employment Initiative and the Department of Defense – Department of Veterans Affairs (DoD-VA) Veterans Employment Initiative Task Force (TF). The purpose is to develop a new transition training and services delivery model to maximize the career readiness of all Service Members. The TF Implementation Plan will follow in the next couple of months with detailed recommendations.

05/07/12

VA & DOL Introduce a New Training Program for Unemployed Veterans

The VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 was recently passed by Congress to provide assistance for unemployed Veterans. If you are an unemployed Veteran between the ages of 35 and 60 you might qualify. The Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP) was part of the recently passed legislation. The program is a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Labor (DOL) joint effort to provide training to Veterans unable to find work. VRAP will provide 12 months of training assistance equal to the monthly full-time payment rate under the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty program (currently paying $1,473 per month). Participants must be enrolled in a program approved for VA benefits that is offered by a community college or technical school. The program must lead to an Associate Degree, Non-College Degree or a Certificate. To qualify, a Veteran must: * Be at least 35 but no more than 60 years old * Be unemployed on the day of application * Have an other than dishonorable discharge * Not be eligible for any other VA education benefit program (e.g.: the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Montgomery GI Bill, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Assistance) * Not be in receipt of VA compensation due to unemployability * Not be enrolled in a federal or state job training program * Pursue a program that leads to employment in a high demand occupation The program is limited to 45,000 participants between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012, and an additional 54,000 participants from October 1, 2012, through March 31, 2014. DOL will provide employment assistance to every Veteran who participates upon completion of their program. Applications will be accepted beginning May 15, 2012. VA will publish more details on the program as they become available at our VOW website.

04/30/12

Senior Enterprise Talent Management program opens for Army civilians

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 27, 2012) -- Army civilians in the grades of GS-14/15 and equivalent employees, may now begin the self-nomination process for entry into the Army's Senior Enterprise Talent Management program. The Senior Enterprise Talent Management program, also known as SETM, was developed collaboratively as a Civilian Workforce Transformation initiative and is administered by the Civilian Senior Leader Management Office. The program prepares participants for positions of greater responsibility through advanced senior-level educational and developmental experiences. Included in the SETM program are opportunities in the Enterprise Placement Program, Developmental Experiences, Senior Service College, and the Defense Senior Leader Development Program. Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh announced the new Army policy for SETM, March 19. The secretary encouraged commanders and supervisors to support the SETM applications of candidates who represent the "best-of-the-best, high-performing civilian leaders with outstanding potential for assignment to positions of increasing importance, responsibility and impact across the Army." Eligible GS-14/15 employees and equivalents may request consideration for one or more of the SETM modules. The SETM modules include the Enterprise Placement Program, or EPP, SETM-Temporary Duty, Senior Service College, or SCC, and the Defense Senior Leader Development Program, known as DSLDP.

04/26/12

Web program helps Soldiers move

FORT SILL, Okla.-- Did you know that 65 percent of permanent change of station moves occur between May 1 and Sept. 30? This, coupled with increases in private sector moves due to economic conditions, stresses the commercial moving industry's capacity and capabilities to conduct moves in a timely manner. If you will PCS during this timeframe, there are many ways to ease the stress of your move. The Department of Defense recently started a new program -- the Defense Personal Property System, or DPS. It is a Web-based system for service members and DoD employees to conduct self-counseling and scheduling of their household goods shipment directly with the transportation service provider, or TSP. Proper planning, careful preparation, flexibility on packing and shipping dates, and constant communication with transportation service providers can reduce the stress and potential for shipment difficulties.