The Latest VA Vocational Rehab Trick
Many of you know your experience in getting VA benefits depends on the quality of the service provider.
When it comes to VA Voc Rehab there is no difference.
Your counselor can be great and really advocate on your behalf or he/she may be a total stick in the mud. Voc Rehab Counselors are like a box of chocolates, yada, yada…
Last week I released a full copy of the brand new M28R VA Voc Rehab Manual. The Manual is designed as the essential “bible” that Voc Rehab Counselors must follow.
This is really a double-edged sword in many ways since the counselors seem to not understand how the document is intended to work.
Sometimes, they will make denials but ignore the clear language of the manual. Other times they will cite portions of the manual that in reality do not apply. Other times they will be spot on.
The problem is that some denials will not contain a citation that will help you find the relevant guidance they are citing. This is a bigger problem than people may think since counselors often misapply the manual.
Further, the manual is not binding in the same way as laws or regulations and for that reason, the whole issue is a bit of puffery.
So for those of you reading this, when you come up against the double edged sword that is the M28R, be sure to search through the manual the right way.
I put all the subsections together into a single PDF so you can search it quickly. Merely put in the keywords or a sentence fragment into search bar after typing Control + F. Paste in the words and read away.
Remember, while your counselor may not know how to use the guide, it is up to you to gain a full grasp of how it works. This includes understanding how the table of contents work in relation to the guidance is important.
Download the manual here: M28R VA Manual.
If you want more in depth information on strategy, check out my guide, the Voc Rehab Survival Guide.
I, for one, appreciate the fact that somebody “out there” takes the time to sit down and grind through the ditches to help veterans in any way possible. He speaks the truth when he tells of how important the counselor plays either a positive or negative role in the veterans success or failure with VA programs. He is spot on with that claim.
I am a veterans service officer in Texas, and as far as I’m concerned, we need more folks doing this sort of research.
I have been reading all of your comments about VA Voc Rehab and how they are non reliable to the Veteran that is seeking there help. I have only read negative actions on Voc Rehab. You leave out any successful stories about veterans like myself that have been helped great fully by Voc Rehab. I am thinking of deleting you from my e-mails. They may have not helped Vets in other states. But in Massachusetts and New Hampshire they have been on the ball with most of us Veterans. Some success stories and some not.
Walter, I think Ben only points out the obvious. I also have had a great experience with mu voc. rehab journey (working on MBA now). However, for every one of us you will find ten that have horror stories because they did not educate themselves on the process and/or the counselors were knuckleheads. For Bens advocacy work alone he should be applauded.
Walter, VA has a $25 million dollar public relations budget that allows them to speak about the positive aspects and stories where veterans did not need any help. I only cover positive stories where the veteran plowed through obstacles and then experienced a positive outcome. In the alternative, I also cover stories where the veteran was unable to move beyond the roadblocks and the system failed them. My public relations budget to “get the word out” beyond my own writing is $0 and I do not have legions of employees and contractors to help me.
Conversely, I would be curious as to why you do not criticize VA for failing to highlight the negative stories about benefits on their multiple websites and legion of private contractors. Instead, all we see from them and their $25 million are stories of success with no problems.
I guess if VR&E had a higher success rater beyond the IG’s alleged 18% success rate, I would not have a thing to write about since the contractors do such a great job of only highlighting positive stories to ensure American’s that they are doing a great job for all veterans…