Date of Separation?

[Tonedrvr]

Can anybody tell me how to establish a date of separation? I know that if you 7 day opt an assignment the AF will typically give you a date about 4 months out to separate. But how does it work on the other end? If your commitment date is approaching and you haven’t been offered an assignment yet, how much notice do you need to give the Air Force prior to getting out? Can that date be later slipped if things are working out as planned?

 

[dtfl]

When I was planning to get out the ROE was 6 mos prior. Call Separations at MPF - just tell them you are curious or you have a subordinate who is considering it if you are worried.

 

[scoreboard]

When I was planning to get out the ROE was 6 mos prior. Call Separations at MPF - just tell them you are curious or you have a subordinate who is considering it if you are worried.

and then call them again the next day to get the same or often times different answer, then call another base MPF and ask them. Best way is to go into the personnel regs and find out yourself.

 

[dtfl]

and then call them again the next day to get the same or often times different answer, then call another base MPF and ask them. Best way is to go into the personnel regs and find out yourself.

ok..whatever...Or you can just ask to talk to the Section NCOIC. Out of every office in the AF that can't get anything right, in my 15 years - Separations was the ONLY consistent office...or you could spend hours looking into the regs...or just ask your buddy next to you that just put his papers in...

 

[mule]

You are supposed to submit paperwork 6 months prior to the actual date that you want/can separate. This is done with an AF Form 780. Fill it out and take it to MPF and they will take care of the rest.

If you are given orders prior to the 6 month mark, prior to the 780 submission AND have an ADSC, you are not subject to the 4 month force shaping deal. They may try to tell you that you are, but they are wrong...You still have to serve out your ADSC. In this case, you will have to 7 day opt out of them, then establish a DOS with the form 780.

If you decide that you want to pull your papers after filling out the 780, you have up until 30 days prior to your DOS. If you want to slide the actual separation date, you can...but it takes a waiver and some extenuating circumstances...even then, it can only be slid 90 days.

This is all just from memory, so if you want to get into the weeds, here is the regulation...or AFI...or whatever they are calling it now.

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubfiles/af/36/afi36-3207/afi36-3207.pdf

 

[Tonedrvr]

Thanks Mule, great info. I'll read up on it.

 

[Goose17]

Do Your Homework!

and then call them again the next day to get the same or often times different answer, then call another base MPF and ask them. Best way is to go into the personnel regs and find out yourself.

It has been almost 5 years, so I don't remember the specifics, but...

I spent some time reading every reg pertaining to separating. I took lots of notes and had my ducks in a row. When it came time to act, I discovered that the base military personnel (what ever they are officially called) didn't know the regs and tried to feed me a bunch of bull. I had to quote the regs on more than one occasion to set them right. After discovering I knew what the heck I was talking about, their stories always changed.

Prepare!

Goose17

 

[YeOldeProp]

What Goose17 just told you is HUGE. I ran the same gauntlet during a 7-day opt, establishing a retirement date, and then as I got closer to that date, they tried to "re-adjust" the date due to some grandfathering that they thought they had overlooked. In every case, I had to pull out the AF and local regs and ammendments to show them what it said. The Separations/Retirement office was staffed with one SSgt, a SRA and an Amn. You need to really, really look out for #1 in what will probably be the most important "career decisions" of your life.

The military makes it very easy to get in...but very confusing and sometimes difficult to get out. If your Pilot office doesn't have a binder full of all the appropriate regs about ADSC's, Assignments, Separations, Retirements, etc...then you get yourself online at the AF Pubs site and print them all. Then go through them with a highlighter and make sure the important stuff is annotated. I built ours, prepped it and took it with me every time I went to the MPF. (A nice side benefit is that you become the office expert and the rest of the gang will buy you a beer or two to learn what you've found out in your research...)

Found a bunch of stuff that had changed with an FY2000 adjustment to the regs that pretty much shook up all of us "old-timers" (0-5's and 0-4's) who thought we knew what was going on. The biggest one came from the assignments reg that changed the assignment cycle. Been a while, but I believe the assignment cycle actually starts 3-4 months prior to your notification to start looking for a job. And...due to that earlier date (which you're not told about)...you can be tagged with a non-volunteer assignment before you get your papers in for a normal separation/retirement. If you have any ADSC remaining and are unable to 7-day opt...you get the assignment with the 2-year commitment attached. Sort of a modern-day shanghai...you don't even get free drinks out of it.

And...as I used to always counsel our youngs pilots/navs when they started looking into this stuff: "The USAF really, really, really, really wants you to stay in and be a career officer and continue your path up the ladder towards senior officer. However your contract with your country is fulfilled, so you're free to make any decisions that are best for you and your family. Now, what would you like to chat about?????"

So, do your homework, take complete charge of your separation/retirement and good luck...

 

[mule]

The biggest thing to be familiar with is the Force Shaping madness. They will try to tell you that you have to be out within 4 months once you 7 day opt. Not true at all!!! Read every one of the messages. One of them has a table that lists who is eligible/vulnerable for this. ADSC guys are not allowed to get out before their ADSC date...so don't let anyone tell you different.

As far as non-vols go...you are not going to be touched for those unless you have at least 13 months left. Even then, it will be painful to take you. Don't stress too much about those if you have less than 13 months left.

 

[angry tanker]

Also remember when you do decide to get out and your commander says he will sit on it a few days so "you can think things through..." that piece of paper is just to advise him you are getting out, not asking his premission. good luck!

 

[T2Pilot]

Don't believe anything anyone tells you until you see it in writing in the current AFIs. No matter what career field you're in you've got to know the personnel and the finance AFIs otherwise you will get screwed at some point. I don't think anyone tries to do this on purpose - just training gaps and misinterpretation. There have been many times where I was told "no" or "you can't do that" until I showed them the AFI. It's not right and you can complain about studying the regs for hours but that's the way it is. By the way personnel specialists in the Air Force are mostly going away. Soon it will all be self-service with only the web and AFPC to help you.

 

[RickKC-135]

The answer to your question is; the AF requires 120 days notice. Then you add any terminal leave and permissive TDY you plan to take. Thats why they typically say 6 months (4 months notice plus 2 months leave). However, if you have orders in hand and can complete the outprocessing, you can leave at the 120 days minus your terminal leave and TDY, so the absolute quickest you can get out is 40 days. I just applied for separation last month and it took 4 days to get my orders, so the 40 days is definately possible. On the other end the latest date you can establish is 1 year, unless it's a 7 day opt, then it's 6 months. The reason this is contingent on your orders is because they have to ensure you have meet all your commitments prior to publishing the orders i.e the date you picked is after your commitment.