Military and Veterans' Benefits: Observations on the Transition Assistance Program

摘要

When the Congress established the transition assistance program in 1990, significant reductions in military force levels were expected. The law noted that many of these service personnel specialized in critical skills, such as combat arms, which would not transfer to the civilian workforce. Transition assistance, including employment and job training services, was established to help such service members make suitable educational and career choices as they readjusted to civilian life. The law directed DOL, DOD, and VA to jointly administer the program. To do so, the agencies entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which spelled out each agency's role in the provision of services to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. When the Coast Guard started to operate the transition assistance program in 1994, DOT entered into a similar agreement with VA and DOL. Each branch of the military is required to provide pre-separation counseling to all military personnel no later than 90 days prior to their separation from the military. Pre-separation counseling, according to the law, shall include information about education and vocational rehabilitation benefits, selective reserve options, job counseling and job search and placement information, relocation assistance services, medical and dental benefits, counseling on the effects of career change, and financial planning. The military branches are to provide space for the provision of transition services at locations with more than 500 active duty personnel. Separating service members must complete a pre-separation counseling checklist indicating that they have been informed of the services available to them and, on this checklist, they are to indicate the services they wish to receive, including if they wish to participate in the transition assistance workshop.