GI Bill Robert Worley General

Official Responsible For GI Bill Boondoggle Removed Before Hearing

VA made internal moves to relocate the official in charge of the GI Bill program five business days before a congressional hearing on payment delays.

Retired Air Force Major General Robert Worley is the official in charge of a massive IT glitch resulting in hundreds of thousands of veterans not receiving GI Bill subsistence payments. The glitch occurred when VA transitioned its processing system to the new Forever GI Bill from the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The primary IT contractor involved, Booz Allen Hamilton, will testify at the hearing today along with Dr. Paul Lawrence, the Veterans Benefits Administration Under Secretary. Hopefully, Margarita Devlin will also testify about her leadership (or lack thereof) concerning the transition process as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary. No doubt her DNA is all over the place with the present failure.

Friday, reports surfaced that Worley was being relieved of duty as director of Education Service in VBA. He will now serve as executive director at Houston VBA Regional Office, which appears to be a made-up position that previously did not exist. This is a move many previous failed leaders take to ensure retirement despite previous failures.

Worley was head of Education Service since 2012 when he was picked by Allison Hickey to run that shop. He is one of her last leadership picks to exit a primary leadership role for a spot in the field prior to retirement. Jamie Manker and Margarita Devlin are the last two clingons.

GI Bill processing using new software was a mess the entire time. By 2014, VA was halfway to finishing its new software platform, and Hickey gave an embarrassing performance in front of Congress explaining the mess.

RELATED: VA Brags Up GI Bill Works Right Only Half Time

Four years later, we have the Forever GI Bill, and the new software system designed to run it is also failing. It’s worth noting Hickey was employed by Booz Allen prior to serving as VBA undersecretary. That same company is now implicated in the Forever GI Bill debacle.

Here is a short list of those leaders put out to pasture this year:

Basically, whenever a senior leader blows it and gets caught, Central Office moves them out of the leadership role and into the field office of their choice until retirement. The condition of the move appears to require the official keep their mouth shut and cooperate about avoiding exposure of whatever underlying issue resulted in their removal.

Thomas Murphy avoided some heavy congressional hearings earlier this year with his reassignment to St. Louis as did many of his staff. Where will Margarita Devlin land when her scandal hits the news?

The hearing today is a must-see for veterans and activities, alike. I expect fireworks since the problems were supposed to be addressed months ago.

Worley will be moved into a makeshift executive director role, whatever that means since the role of director is presently taken by Darryl Brady. He will probably serve out the remainder of his years in this capacity to get a second retirement.

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12 Comments

  1. Don’t send his butt to Houston…Their RO is screwed up enough!
    Damnit man, I am SOOO tired of hearing about all the problems at the VA!
    They need to have their shit fixed!! C’mom Trump, you can do it!

  2. Working in the federal government as a Civilian I am well aware of what these individuals do. I had more than one boss tell me that he is the federal government and he will do whatever he wants. So sad that we as taxpayers let them get away with it. Our fault fellow veterans

  3. The malfeasance musical chairs game to preserve the menagerie of mis-management is so insultingly blatant in operation, that it seems obvious they don’t give a damn about our awareness or promulgation of it.

  4. They just don’t care about us… only stuffing their pockets with money meant for veterans while we suffer… . They meaning most of America…

  5. Have to agree with others. Same ole same ole. The circus and musical chairs up there and those above the ones falling on their swords or the escape goats think this is all fun and games with most not losing benefits, perks, or employment. Then moving these clowns around the nation knowing full well the media is controlled and little chance of further harms, incompetence, and corruption to be reported. The veils of censoring will thicken, retaliations and fear put in place for protections. Stars and Stripes poll and recent questionnaire just gives 200 words for military complaints and such. Funny stuff. I filled that puppy up fast. Big Brother shooting for Mars and can’t even take care of veterans or our many issues here on Earth. More funny stuff.

  6. It’s bullshit that no one gets axed. What happens is a big party with long term employees that are all buddies within the hospitals, regional offices and the head honchos. They all spend too much time being chummy putting up roadblocks and ways to look good not noticing the shit trail behind. This is exactly why when you rock the boat, complaining and getting your Senator’s to help they retaliate. They then work together to make lives difficult, getting C&P exams turn up and ratings reduced. Sit in laugh on conference calls messing up appeals. Management is fairly easy, know your job and if don’t know something educate yourself before opening your hole and hold people accountable. You go in and explain this and then fire 5-10 people and things fall in line. When you know there’s no chance of getting in trouble because you know everything supervisor Bob has done wrong for 20+ years this is what you get. Like a game show, tell Bob what he has won, a all expense paid vacation in sunny Florida or skiing in Colorado! You choose because you also get relocation and moving expenses paid too Bob. And behind door #3 is a big empty yellow envelope, you can fill with phony receipts or pieces of paper where can just write a number on for reimbursement. Good luck and we will see you in a couple years to play You Are NOT Fired. Bonus!!! Don’t forget your key to the pharmacy where it’s opioid city and blame the veterans blowing their heads off in the parking lot because we are responsible for the opioid crisis and now you need to be dying for a prescription. I realize written in poor taste only because true and they continue to ruin my life and already tied to the train tracks. Good day gents

  7. nothing in the VA is ever going to change. Remember the slogan “to big to fail” when the banks, Car manufacturing and Wall Street were going to fail? Billions were spend to keep the incompetence in existence.

  8. The SHUFFLE game, Wow what a same by the VA and it’s systematic way of caring for those who screw up and then their asses are saved by removing them from their position to avoid being fired and losing their pensions, more concern should be addressed to the Veterans well being and for their funding for healthcare, education, and housing then worrying about those continue to screw up the system without any serious recourse

  9. This is just one more reason that
    Rearanging the deck chairs on the Titanic does nothing but harm the veterans who relay on this for there
    Living.

  10. Sounds like the VA is still failing veterans with corruption, and incompetence that is just rewarded within the system. As long as this is allowed to continue, the tax payers, and veterans will continue suffering the consequences.

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