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| Veterans to Business and Benefits |
Purpose:
- To provide an overview of the various programs available to Veterans who want to do business with the government.
- To provide information on benefits that are available to Veterans from VA and other agencies.
- To provide guidance on filing a disability claim with VA.
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Veteran Impact:
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Policy, Planning and Preparedness, prepares an annual report each year called the Geographic Distribution of VA Expenditures (GDX).
- It provides the estimated dollar expenditures for major VA Programs by county and Congressional Districts within each state. Expenditure data is grouped by the following categories:
- Compensation and Pension (C&P);
- Education and Vocational Rehabilitation;
- Insurance and Indemnities; Construction (CNSTR);
- General Operating Expenses (GOE); and Medical Care.
- The following shows the information for Texas and Angelina County:
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Definition of a Veteran:
There are two ways to define a Veteran - by definition and for benefits. There is no standardized legal definiton of "military veteran" in the United States. The two definitions that are used are:
- Veteran by definition - a person who has served in the Armed Forces in time of war or peace, with no time limit. "A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."
- Veteran by government - as defined in U.S. Code Title 38 - Veteran's Benefits, Part 1 - General Provisions, Section 101 - Definitions:
- (2) - The term "Veteran" means means a person who served in the active military, naval,
or air service and who was discharged or released there from under conditions other
than dishonorable.
- (21) - The term ``active military, naval, or air service'' includes:
- (A) active duty;
- (B) any period of active duty for training during which the
individual concerned was disabled or died from a disease or injury
incurred or aggravated in line of duty; and
- (C) any period of inactive duty training during which the
individual concerned was disabled or died:
- (i) from an injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty;
or
- (ii) from an acute myocardial infarction, a cardiac arrest,
or a cerebrovascular accident occurring during such training.
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- Determine qualifying military service:
- The length of your service may also matter. It depends on when you served.
There’s no length of service requirement for:
- Former enlisted persons who started active duty before September 8, 1980, or
- Former officers who first entered active duty before October 17, 1981
- All other veterans must have 24 months of continuous active duty military
service or meet one of the exceptions described below.
- Minimum Service Requirement - You do not have to meet the 24 continuous months of active duty service
requirement if you:
- Were a reservist who was called to Active Duty and who completed the term
for which you were called, and who was granted an other than dishonorable
discharge, or
- Were a National Guard member who was called to Active Duty by federal
executive order, and who completed the term for which you were called, and who
was granted an other than dishonorable discharge, or
- Only request a benefit for or in connection with:
- a service-connected condition or disability; or
- treatment and/or counseling of sexual trauma that occurred while on active
military service; or
- treatment of conditions related to ionizing radiation; or
- head or neck cancer related to nose or throat radium treatment while in the
military.
- Were discharged or released from active duty for a hardship , or
- Were discharged with an “early out”; or
- Were discharged or released from active duty for a disability that began in
the service or got worse because of the service; or
- Have been determined by VA to have compensable service-connected conditions;
or
- Were discharged for a reason other than disability, but you had a medical
condition at the time that:
- Was disabling, and
- In the opinion of a doctor, would have justified a discharge for disability
(in this last case, the disability must be documented in service records)
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| Veterans Doing Business with the Federal Government |
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Purpose: To provide an overview of the various programs available to Veterans who want to do business with the government.
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CVE Programs |
Center for Veterans Enterprise
This provides information on programs that the Center for Veterans Enterprise provides for Veterans.
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Returning Veterans Skills Training Fund
http://www.twc.state.tx.us/svcs/funds/vet_scholarship.html
The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) provides $1 million in funding for the Returning Veterans Skills Training Fund. Scholarships are awarded for skills training based on employers' identification of the skills necessary for Texas' future economic growth. When employers identify these needs, the training fund enables recently separated veterans to upgrade their skills to meet current and future workforce demands.
Private Texas employers can apply to TWC for training grants by partnering with established training providers such as community colleges, apprenticeship training programs, or community-based training programs with demonstrated experience. Employers must be based in Texas and in good standing and in compliance with the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act and other applicable state and federal labor laws.
Veterans eligible for skills training scholarships must:
- Be discharged or released from active duty within the previous 36 months;
- Be discharged or released from active duty within the previous 36 months;
- Have served during a war, campaign, or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized;
- Be employed by a participating employer or have an offer of employment from a participating employer; and
- Provide a DD-214 to document service status.
Scholarship funds can be used to pay tuition, books, and fees for eligible veterans. Scholarships may be granted for amounts up to $1000 per scholarship. Scholarships may exceed $1,000 with sufficient justification. The veteran's GI Bill is not affected.
Applications for grants can be submitted at any time up to November 1, 2010. To apply, download the grant application below, complete all requested information, sign the forms, and return them electronically to: vet.scholarproject@twc.state.tx.us
For more information, contact George Bousquet at (512) 936-0401 or George.Bousquet@twc.state.tx.us.
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Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV)
http://www.whitman.syr.edu/ebv/
The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) offers cutting edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities resulting from their service to our country. The EBV is designed to open the door to business ownership for our veterans by developing your skills in the many steps and activities associated with launching and growing a small business, and by helping you leverage programs and services for veterans and people with disabilities in a way that furthers your entrepreneurial dreams.
The EBV program is offered through a national partnership of exceptional universities: the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Florida State University’s College of Business, Mays Business School at Texas A&M, the University of Connecticut School of Business, and the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. Each of these world-class business schools will offer the EBV program on their campuses in 2010.
To be eligible for the program:
- A 'service-connected disability' as designated by the Veterans Administration or Department of Defense;
- Military service after September 2001; and
- A passion for entrepreneurship.
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EBV Flyer |
The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV)
This provides information on program.
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Purpose: This provides information that is applicable to all Veterans and will be focused on programs or information that is out there for Veterans.
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Veterans Benefits |
Veteran Benefits
This is a presentation by ACPAC on Veteran Benefits.
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eVetRecs:
Request Copies of Military Personnel Records
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs/index.html
An online military Personnel records request system to create a customized order form to request information from your or your relative's military personnel records. You may use this system if you are a:
- Next of kin of a deceased, former member of the military (next of kin can be any of the following: surviving spouse that has not remarried, father, mother, son, daughter, sister, or brother).
REMEMBER - you will not be able to view the documents, only request them. IT IS FREE!!
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Things to do on eVet Recs:
- Request copies of DD214's - Discharge Paperwork.
- WHY? This should be done once every few years, because things change. For example new awards are created after you ETS - GWOT Medal or how A Troop, 1/11 ACR being awarded a Presidental Unit Citation.
- Request medal sets of awards received while in the military. One set can be requested by the Veteran and once they are deceased, one can be requested by a next of kin.
- WHY? Why not, it is free. Those in the Army and Air Force will be able to do it all from the eVetRecs website, other branches (Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard) will require a SF 180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records) to be filled out and sent to Bureau of Naval Personnel.
- Remember you will have 20 days to either mail or fax back the copy of the form that you print off after completing the step number 4.
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Cold War Certificate Program
https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/active/tagd/coldwar/default.htm
In accordance with section 1084 of the Fiscal Year 1998 National Defense Authorization Act, the Secretary of Defense approved awarding Cold War Recognition Certificates to all members of the armed forces and qualified federal government civilian personnel who faithfully and honorably served the United States anytime during the Cold War era, which is defined as Sept. 2, 1945 to Dec. 26, 1991.
This is the only official site on which to request Cold War Recognition Certificates. This site is operated by the United States Army, the executive agency for the Cold War Recognition Program. Cold War Recognition Certificates are available to qualified individuals at no cost. Any other site offering these certificates or replicas for sale or purchase are not official sites and are not approved or endorsed by the US Army.
You will need to go to the website and fill out the online form, print it off, attach a copy of proof you were in the military from 2 Sep 1945 to 26 Dec 1991, and then either fax or mail the forms in.
Remember - IT IS FREE!!
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