VR&E Chapter 31: The Self-Employment Track Most Veterans Never Hear About
Emily A. Hall ·
Veterans with service-connected disabilities are usually told about Veteran Readiness and Employment in terms of retraining or education. Considerably fewer are told that the program includes a self-employment track for veterans whose circumstances make traditional employment impractical.
What the self-employment track is
VR&E, administered under Chapter 31 of Title 38, offers several tracks toward suitable employment. One of them supports veterans in establishing a business of their own.
The reasoning behind it is straightforward: for some veterans, a conventional workplace is genuinely incompatible with their condition, while self-directed work at a self-set pace is achievable. The program recognizes that reality rather than treating employment as the only legitimate outcome.
Who it tends to fit
The self-employment track is generally oriented toward veterans with more significant barriers to conventional employment. It is not simply an alternative for anyone who prefers to be their own boss — the counselor is evaluating whether it is a suitable path toward viable employment for that specific veteran.
For veterans who also hold a FERS disability retirement, this is worth attention. Both systems recognize that the person cannot do what they did before. Neither concludes that the person cannot do anything.
The business plan is the centerpiece
Here is what most people are not told: the process runs on a business plan. Not a description, not an idea, not enthusiasm. A written plan that a counselor can evaluate.
It generally needs to address the things any serious plan addresses — what the business does, who the customers are, what the market looks like, how revenue is generated, what startup requires, and what realistic financial projections look like — with the additional consideration of whether the work is genuinely feasible given the veteran's limitations.
That last element is often what separates plans that succeed from plans that stall. A plan describing a business requiring sixty-hour weeks and constant travel, submitted by a veteran whose documented limitations preclude both, does not persuade.
Why applications stall
- No plan, just an idea. Counselors cannot evaluate a concept.
- Financial projections that are not credible. Numbers that assume immediate profitability undermine everything around them.
- No connection between the business and the veteran's actual capacity. The plan has to be feasible for this person.
- No market evidence. Asserting that customers exist is not the same as demonstrating it.
How this interacts with a FERS disability annuity
A veteran who holds both a service-connected disability and a FERS disability retirement is operating within two frameworks at once. VA compensation is not earned income for the FERS earnings rule, but income the business generates may be.
These systems do not coordinate with each other. Understanding both simultaneously is the veteran's responsibility, and it is worth doing deliberately rather than discovering the interaction later.
Where to start
Contact VA about VR&E eligibility and request an evaluation. If self-employment is a direction you want to explore, say so early, because the track shapes what the process looks like.
Then start on the plan. Whatever the outcome with VR&E, a serious business plan is worth having — it is the same document a lender, a partner, or your own decision-making will need.
The Federal Disability Review offers business plan development. Program eligibility determinations are made solely by VA.
Keep reading
- What Belongs in a Business Plan When You’re an Annuitant
- Self-Employment After FERS Disability Retirement
- Schedule A Hiring Authority Explained
If you would like this reviewed against your own situation, see the Business Plan Development.