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Testimony of

Alan Gibson

Disabled Veteran Outreach Programs Specialist

(DVOP)

(On Extended Disability Leave from)

Missouri Division of Workforce Development

Department of Labor & Industrial Relations

Missouri State Council President

Vietnam Veterans of America

Before the

Subcommittee on Benefits

Committee on Veterans Affairs

Regarding

H.R. 4765 "21st Century Veterans 

Employment and Training Act"

July 12, 2000

Good morning Mr. Chairman and other distinguished members of the Subcommittee. My name is Alan Gibson I served twenty years in the United States Army, which included a tour in Vietnam. I am a Life Member of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), and presently serve as Missouri State Council President for Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). I also serve as Vice-Chair of the National Employment, Training & Business Opportunity Committee of VVA. I am currently on extended disability leave as a DVOP with the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

I am currently on extended disability leave as a Disabled Veterans Outreach Specialist from the Missouri Division of Workforce Development, Department of Labor & Industrial Relations. As a disabled veteran and a DVOP with more than 11 years of experience, it is indeed an honor and a pleasure to speak with you in support of HR 4765, the "21st Century Veterans Employment & Training Act." For many years we have needed a means of holding the Department of Labor and all entities associated with Veterans Employment and Training fully accountable for their actual performance in accomplishing the mission set forth by the Congress.

This bill makes great progress toward fixing this problem, which has heretofore not been adequately addressed. It has astonished me and many of fellow Disabled Veteran Outreach Program Specialists (DVOPs) that authority and responsibility can be given without any accountability. Under the present system of the Federal/State partnership in most States we (the DVOPs and Local Veteran Employment Representatives or LVERs) operate at the whim and desires of a local manager who may or may not care about the program(s) established for veterans and disabled veterans. This proposed legislation not only has rewards for those who have done a great job, but also will promulgate real standards that are meaningful. As importantly, it will result in strengthening the role of the State Director of the Veterans Employment & Training Service, in a way that is more in line with the responsibility that individual bears. I believe that authority should be commensurate with responsibility, and that one should be held rigorously accountable for results of the activities performed.

We spend a great deal of money each year to send DVOPs and LVERs and Managers to the National Veterans Training Institute (NVTI) for approximately a week (each program), and give them training on the regulations and "best practices" to accomplish each aspect of the overall mission. What currently happens is that when all is said and done, these lessons are left by the wayside when Management returns and is placed back into the situation of "getting marks on the wall" rather than helping, to the fullest possible extent, the client. This is very glaring when it comes to Veterans especially, Special Disabled Veterans and Disabled Veterans.

Many staff members return to the local office in their state after training and are used as part time receptionist, switchboard operators and told to stay in the office during regular office hours. Any outside work (helping homeless, seeking job listings from prospective employers, doing outreach and education activities with Veteran Service Organizations, seeking to develop additional training opportunities for veterans, working out better access to vitally needed health care services, etc., contacts will be done via telephone or on the individuals own time and expense. What happens is that the most dedicated DVOPs and LVERs do this stuff on their own time as uncompensated overtime.

Support for program requirements are often in some states, and at times in other states lacking. When this happens there is usually no recourse or appeal. Perhaps most importantly, there are no repercussions for "blowing off" the mission for veterans, as there are no rewards for outstanding performance, nor sanctions for poor performance.

In my own recent personal experience there a number of instructive anecdotes that will illustrate what I am speaking of in regard to this problem.

1. It is a part of the mission for a DVOP to try and get veterans jobs under the Veterans Readjustment Act (VRA). As a DVOP I looked into the hiring practices by other Federal Agencies I looked into such an incident, in response to a complaint from a veteran. I met with personal chastisement, and was docked a day without pay.
2. Often computer capabilities and current training of existing staff is good, even though not actually made available to some DVOPs in a given state. This actually happened to me where I could not get computer access for over a year at my outstation at Harry Truman VA Medical Center, and then when I got the computer, I could not get training necessary in how to run the computer, despite appeals through the state bureaucracy and appeals to the Director of VETS of USDoL. The complaint was "taken care of" by placing the blame on the individual DVOP.

These are but two (2) areas where problems occur that could or should have been taken care of with the requirements addressed within HR 4765. We all tend to study to the questions on the test, and to respond to that which we have to respond to, when we have to do so. The problem is that local managers have not had to answer to anyone for actual full performance, only sometimes "body count" of gross numbers of overall placements.

Some within the DOL feel that this law is trying to privatize the existent structure. This is far from the truth. This law will require those receiving money to perform the requirements set up with monetary rewards to exceed the letter of the law and conversely use the pocketbook as a means to ensure that the mission being paid has an acceptable return on the investment.

I again thank you for inviting me to speak with you and am available for any questions.

Born July 5, 1939, in Webb City, Missouri. Graduated from Webb City High School in 1957. Attended Missouri Valley College for 1 & ½ years then joined the US Army. After retirement from the Army I received my BS from Columbus College (now know as University of Georgia at Columbus), in Columbus, GA

As a volunteer in the US Army, attended Infantry Basic, Advanced Artillery Operation & Intelligence and Airborne Schools. After several assignments and 20 years of service to include 10 years as a Recruiter/Career Counselor, I retired.

For the first 9 years of retirement held several sales jobs in Real Estate, Mutual Funds, Stocks & Bonds. In Nov 1988 accepted an offer with the Missouri Job Service as a Disabled Veterans Representative out stationed in the Harry S. Truman, VA Hospital. Attended Core I (Basic DVOP Training), Core II (Benefits) and Core III (Case Management) at the National Veterans Training Institute (NVTI) in Denver, Colorado. Since June 1999, have been on Long Term Disability without prospects of returning to full time employment.

I am a Life Member of Vietnam Veterans of America since 1989, member of the Employment, Training & Business Opportunity Committee since 1995 and Co-Chair since Nov 1999.

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