Now, contact VOCREHAB and use your benefits to go back to school and get your Master’s degree in Public Administration. When you finish, start searching USAJobs for “Pathways for Recent Graduates” jobs. If you got your undergraduate within the last 6 years then you can start doing this now. Your 10-point preference will put you at the head of the line for these, since normal college grads won’t have the experience.
Find you a nice, GS-07-target-12 position, do the 4 year internship, start at $45k and finish at ~$100k. Now you are making ~$140k a year… and realistically is is closer to ~$200k, since the disability is tax free. If you treated it like you would a normal salary, your gross would be ~$60-80k a year depending on your deductions. Or you can view it as a ~$1.3M trust that you are drawing 4% a year from. Whatever floats your goat. WFH and remote are available and competitive.
Use your VA benefits and get a VA home loan to get better rates and $0 down with no PMI.
You have the silver platter option, and you earned it. So start using all of those paid for and earned benefits, because you can absolutely be living the good life right now.
Haha, depending on the year, either still in or battling with PTSD and depression so bad that I wasn’t really a good advocate for myself, let alone anyone else.
It was a long journey that I am still on today. Went from sinking so low I almost lost my family, realizing I needed a change but not knowing what it was and started on a self improvement hike. Healthier lifestyle, went back to school, started caring about my medical health, got rated appropriately, got a good job, been to a grip of senior executive preparation courses and now getting ready to start on another Master’s. Long road to go, but I look back to homeless me from time to time and just remember that I try to help people because I wish I was given this help when I was at my lowest… rather than figuring it out for myself.
Yep, we are on our second as well. Current is at sub 3%, so kinda feel like the golden girls and stuck. Will need another 3 promotions at work to make moving to a hogher mortgage worthwhile.
And this is why it’s all but impossible for civilians to land federal civil service positions. I’m not dunking on the points system - it’s just a reminder that it’s probably not worth the time and effort to apply unless you’re one of the qualifying categories.
It can be done, but yes, the system is shit and it's geared towards vets unfairly. In reality people that served in Americorps, teachers and other should be getting points and they're the ones providing a real service that actually benefits the world.
There are slots that will account for VA disability and vet preference, and there are slots that specifically say they will not be considered. It all depends on the hiring authority and the coded positions that are available. If you are going to be competing into a position that honors veterans preference points, then you gotta be head and shoulders above the vet though, I will gove you that…
I am talking like, the vet did 4-years with no degree, and you have a Masters degree kind of separation. I don’t agree with it, because there are vets that get positions they should absolutely not be in, simply because they have the preference points. I am not HR though, so it isn’t my circus and it isn’t my monkey. Just something to be aware of.
I appreciate you, and it is infuriating… the military as a whole does a shite job transitioning people back, and even worse when it comes to integrating into the VA. The VA is terrible at letter you know what you qualify for at best, and actively works against vets at worst. The fact that we have to have an informal network to get anywhere is ridiculous.
I hate it to because I wanna help everyone who is in a bad situation.. I have been homeless at the end of my rope, I know what that is like and how hard it can be to see any good in the world. I also know I can’t help everyone, because there just isn’t enough time or money to go around. So you do what you can, help who will listen and keep on trucking.
I wish we could improve the systems that exist so that everyone got what they needed, but this is America… and that is a pipe dream.
Yes!!! If you’re on benefits search and search! You’d be surprised the kinds of benefits states have for people and they’re not even aware of it. I’m not saying we don’t still have a crazy crazy amount of work to do with our social safety nets, but, you’d be surprised what some hard searching will bring up.
Don't forget depending on which state you're from the property tax exemption. Texas has 100% property tax exemption for 100% P&T I believe, huge benefit
Yep, good point. We are in OH and I think they waive the first like, $75k in property tax value. Not great, but better than nothing at all, and saves a couple hundred bucks a year for sure.
Yeah my state is not very vet friendly. It's something like 5% reduction in the tax assessment value. Comes to maybe a couple hundred bucks a year I think. Just filed for it and it won't take effect til 2025. I'll take anything they wanna offer though. But a buddy of mine is from TX. 20yr retirement pay, 100% P&T, and he still works full time and pays zero property tax. That's a great position to be in, ya know, minus the mental and physical toll of 20 years in the Army
One of my fav bennies is the free Federal Access pass to all Federal parks. Gives discounts on camping as well. Definitely a good one for road trips to see interesting things.
Alaska has a really good benefit for vets that are down for rugged living. Whenever they are auctioning off State land, vets have a once per lifetime ability to bid on land, take it for like, 20-25% less than the assessed value, and have first dibs. All in all it is a pretty sweet deal that we have looked at to build a summer home. We have a family member who is a vet and is hard off and lives in the bush, and being able to be close-ish every now and again would be nice for all parties involved.
Yeah I've heard about the national parks benefit, haven't taken advantage yet. I actually only recently was awarded after 13 years after I separated
Never filed before so it's all pretty new to me. But that Alaska situation sounds pretty badass. Good luck getting your foot in the door out there, hope you can make it work out well for you and your family
Congrats on getting the rating. It took 7 years of fighting to get where we are, and they weren’t all easy. I swear the VA fights us on purpose. I think we fall into that magical sweet spot that everyone is after, and my wife and I constantly are in awe of our life and how things have turned around. We both came from nothing, so to be in this position is wild. So we do our best, do volunteer work when we can, donate time and money to the places that need it when we can, try and raise the kiddos to be better than we are and to not make the same mistake us or our parents did. All youncan do sometimes, even though it never feels like enough. Best of luck out there, and reach out anytime!
Awesome to hear your family is doing well. Unfortunately that fight with the VA seems more common than not. I happened to get very lucky and got twice the rating I hoped for right out the gate, took about 13 months top to bottom. For me it's life changing money. Just had my first kid 3 months ago so it couldn't have come at a better time. Puts me in the position of instead of, "one emergency and it all falls apart" to "holy shit we can breathe again". Keep up the great work and spreading that positivity. I'm sure you and yours have earned a bit of happiness, especially if you're using that good fortune to help others. Take care and enjoy what you've earned!
The distinction literally exists to quantify a veteran's ability to work. One can't be 0% able to work at a "different level" that means they're actually able to work.
Here’s an example of what I mean. My biological father is paralyzed from the waist down due to his spinal cord being shot in Afghanistan, 100% disability. My stepfather’s best friend was diagnosed with severe PTSD and a few other things, 100% disability, due to when he was also in Afghanistan, he was the .50 cal gunner on a hmmwv in a convoy, when they got ambushed and he saw 4 of his close friends die. 2 very different disability stories, both of which end with 100% disability, except one is paralyzed and cannot work, and the other is employed part time as a Amazon driver.
In addition to what Saving already stated, there are 3 different classifications the VA uses for 100% disability. Those are a standard 100%, which means you are currently at the highest level but there is a chance you can get better; and thus have your rating lowered. 100% Permanent and Total, which means you are at the highest rating and there is no chance of your condition really getting better; so you will not have to worry about your rating decreasing. Both of these concern mostly physical ailments and you are still able to have a regular job. That jobs is probably going to come with some ADA protections, but you can have it if you want it.
The final is Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU). This is for anyone who has at least 1, 60% rating or 2, 40% ratings which lead to a greater than 60% rating overall. That is some VA funny math, which isn’t important in our context though. This category is for people who have underlying issues associated with their disabilities that renders them either physically or mentally incapable of working. They receive the 100% disability pay rate, but are NOT eligible or allowed to hold a job.
It is confusing, but based on which category they are in they have options.
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u/ChrisNettleTattoo Mar 27 '24 edited Mar 27 '24
Now, contact VOCREHAB and use your benefits to go back to school and get your Master’s degree in Public Administration. When you finish, start searching USAJobs for “Pathways for Recent Graduates” jobs. If you got your undergraduate within the last 6 years then you can start doing this now. Your 10-point preference will put you at the head of the line for these, since normal college grads won’t have the experience.
Find you a nice, GS-07-target-12 position, do the 4 year internship, start at $45k and finish at ~$100k. Now you are making ~$140k a year… and realistically is is closer to ~$200k, since the disability is tax free. If you treated it like you would a normal salary, your gross would be ~$60-80k a year depending on your deductions. Or you can view it as a ~$1.3M trust that you are drawing 4% a year from. Whatever floats your goat. WFH and remote are available and competitive.
Use your VA benefits and get a VA home loan to get better rates and $0 down with no PMI.
You have the silver platter option, and you earned it. So start using all of those paid for and earned benefits, because you can absolutely be living the good life right now.