Maj Gen Robert Worley, Director of Education Services at the VA, here for a live Q&A March 13th at 3pm ET. What questions do you have?

Maj Gen Robert M. Worley II, USAF Retired, thank you for joining us on RallyPoint. For all service members who are considering a transition to civilian life or those who are already in the process of planning for it, what are the most valuable but underutilized education benefits you see that we should all be using more of as a Veteran community?

Thank you for coming to RP Sir. My questions to you are in the IT certifications field. Why can't the veteran be paired with an IT mentor along with his Voc Rehab counselor?. It would make explaining the situation easier to stomach from the counselors perspective why a certain cert is required in the field vs being bean counters pushing college degrees. The old IAT/IAM model helped before, but even that was hard to explain to my counselor after awhile. She was HR not IT. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) to me is one of the hardest classes to take and at the end, has a mental grinder of a test (six hours long) that most do not pass even on their second and third tries. The instructors even mention that fact in class. If there was an IT mentor the IAT/IAM model would've been a non-issue, and after collaborating on what to take based on the job wanted, he/she again would tell the counselor this is how it is and works. You could end up in that (or another class for the fifth time, but it is counting against your GI Bill. That should also be explained). My second on the certs is, different states allow different certs to be taken and approved by Voc Rehab. This could've changed since my example got his. My next example would be Certified Ethical Hacker or CEH. At the time, CEH was not on the approved list of certs to have, but was in high demand. The school knew this, and rather than pass on the chance to get another certification to the troop, the troop signed up for another certification yet sat in on CEH, passed it, and is now working in the Pentagon. This goes back to having mentors from major industries to interpret and guide troops through based on the type of job they are looking to do rather than having a counselor who is overburdened and might not even have a clue as to what is really needed in a particular field try to use VA regs to tell someone yes or no on a cert.

While I mention IT in this, it's not just an IT thing. It can apply to fields like mechanic to HR. Degree's are important, but when looking at jobs, you don't always see what type of degree is required (it'll usually say degree wanted or so many years experience), but you WILL see what kind of certs are required. Need to change the mindset to support what's needed vs perceived across the spectrum. Thank you again Sir for coming to RP.

Maj Gen Worley. On a 100% Disability rating, its my understanding educational Benefits are available to that Veteran. Do they need to carry a certain amount of credits (full time) or can they do a class here and there. Like an art class? Can they start stop and resume or does it need to be in a continued basis. One fell swoop? Thank you and have an amazing day!

Maj Gen Robert M. Worley II, USAF Retired If you have used all of your GI Bill Benefits, to include the Post 911 GI Bill Benefits that I transferred to my daughters, are there any benefits in the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Act/Forever GI Bill that I can use into (or) I'm not eligible?

Hello everyone...I'm really happy to have this chance to answer questions on the Forever GI Bill.

Good day sir, My question today is twofold based on my personal experience with the Post 9/11 GI Bill. First I have been in the military continuously since 1982. I joined as an enlisted soldier and fully participated in the VEAP matching program and ended up coming off two years of active duty with 15,200. for collage. I used a portion for a semester of pre engineering and then a year of technical school and had some money left when I was finished. Many years later I was mobilized several times and became eligible for the full Post 9/11 education funding. My family made the decision to use this for my daughter towards her four year degree and started all the paperwork with her school to get it set up. What happened during the course of getting my benefits transferred to her was a representative from the VA reached out to me to share that the money I used during my VEAP days would be taken away month for month from my Post 9/11 program as I was only entitled to use the program to equivalent of 4 full years of education. That left my daughter with her spring semester of her senior year to be funded by her or loans. The good news is her school is a yellow ribbon participant so she should be okay to finish without any out of pocket expenses.

First question is why was this information not made clearer and more easier to understand for me beforehand? I think all the particulars of the several different educational programs should be made available to military members and veterans in an easy to you guide or reference chart. It could make a huge difference in determining where to attend school.

Second question is as a warrant officer I am suppose to be a subject matter expert in my particular field and be the go to person for help in finding out answers to me soldiers and leaders questions, was there some portal or document that I somehow missed when exploring the Post 9/11 that you could share to lesson the burden on future participants in the post 9/11 program?

My question is how the BAH changes are going to be implemented. As a medical student, we are sent on clinical rotations away from the campus we attend, will we receive BAH based on where we rotate or where the school is located?

Thanks for joining us, Maj Gen Robert M. Worley II, USAF Retired. It’s great to see a fellow AFSPC warrior on RallyPoint.
My question: What important changes or added value to our education benifits are on the horizon?

Maj Gen Robert M. Worley II, USAF Retired: I have questions Major General....But, first of all I WOULD LIKE TO GREATLY THANK YOU FOR YOUR HIGHLY HONORABLE PRESENCE WITH US HERE ON RALLY POINT!
Sir, could I take courses from the VA: both- online and at home? Also, Major General Worley: I would like to take VA courses part-time.
Would these be possibilities for me at all, Sir?
THANK YOU BEYOND KINDLY, MAJOR GENERAL WORLEY, FOR YOUR TIME, PATIENCE AND, FOR LISTENING TO ME.
THANK YOU AGAIN, MAJOR GENERAL, FOR HONORING US WITH YOUR HONORABLE PRESENCE; RIGHT HERE ON RALLY POINT!
I would like to most sincerely thank you for your attention to my questions, Sir.
-Margaret C. Higgins U.S. Army Retired: Coach (of Facebook groups)/Photographer

No questions General, just a big thank you for your helping veterans and service members with on going education.