The application window: 12 to 4 months out
- Submit your retirement application via myFSS. The window runs from 12 months to 4 months before your retirement date — target the front of it. An approved application is effectively final (DAFI 36-3203 ¶3.11): withdrawing or changing it after approval is an exception process, not a form.
- OCONUS: your DEROS adjustment rides the retirement application — confirm it processed rather than assuming.
- Pick your date with the money in view — retired pay is your High-36 average × 2.5% per year under High-3 (10 U.S.C. §§1407, 1409(b)(1)), so a date that captures a pay raise or a longevity step in the average is worth checking before you file.
TAPS: the deadlines that gate everything else
- NLT 365 days out: TAPS Initial Counseling + DD Form 2648. This is the DoD-wide statutory floor (DoDI 1332.35 §7.2) — and for retirees the same instruction says to start as early as the 24-month mark. IC is also a prerequisite for SkillBridge.
- Then the mandatory components (DoDI 1332.35 ¶5.1.a): DoD Transition Day, the VA Benefits & Services briefing, and a two-day track (Employment / Education / Vocational / Entrepreneurship). Members with 20+ years may be exempt from the DOL employment day — confirm with your transition office.
- NLT 90 days out: Capstone — your commander verifies Career Readiness Standards and your Individual Transition Plan.
Officers: the retired-grade trap
If you pin on a new grade within roughly three years of your retirement date, service-in-grade rules can retire you in the lower grade (DAFI 36-3203 ¶8.2.5). Two things soften it: waivers exist, and the pay impact is smaller than it looks — your High-36 average still includes the months served in the higher grade (DAFI 36-3203 Table 8.1 note). But the grade on your DD-214 is the grade on your DD-214: talk to MPF before accepting a late promotion or locking a date.
SkillBridge via AFVEC
- Prerequisites first: AFVEC Virtual Training and DoD Ethics Training, plus a completed TAPS IC.
- Find an employer with a DoD-approved MoU and build the training plan with them — start ~11 months out for a program in your final 180 days (AFI 36-2671).
- Submit in AFVEC and allow 30–90 days for O-6 commander approval.
- When the Memorandum of Participation arrives, upload it into LeaveWeb as the PTDY source document — SkillBridge rides permissive TDY status, not your leave balance.
WheelsUp back-plans all of this from your date — the AFVEC prereqs, the application lead time, the MoP step, and how SkillBridge stacks with terminal leave.
The SHPE window
The Separation History and Physical Examination must fall within 180 days of retirement AND be complete at least 30 days before departure (DAFI 36-3203 ¶6.1.2). That's a narrower window than it sounds once terminal leave is subtracted — if you take 60 days of terminal leave, your last duty day is your real deadline anchor. Book the SHPE the week the 180-day window opens; it also feeds your VA claim, and the VA BDD window (180–90 days out) overlaps it almost exactly.
Leave planning
- Mind the fiscal-year cap — days over the 60-day carry-over are forfeited at the end of the FY (DAFI 36-3003). A terminal-leave plan has to survive every 30 September between now and your date.
- Terminal leave vs. sell-back: sold leave pays basic pay only with a 60-day career cap (DAFI 36-3003 ¶7.9.2.5); terminal leave keeps pay and allowances running. The full math — including the enlisted SLA carve-out (¶2.4.3.1) — is in our terminal leave vs. sell-back guide.
Final out
- Base outprocessing checklist: dental clearance, legal/SJA, equipment, finance — start ~2 weeks before your last duty day.
- Final out with FSS/MPF requires your MTF clearance recorded (DAFI 36-3203 ¶6.1.3–6.1.4) — the medical step physically gates the personnel step, which is exactly the kind of dependency that bites people who booked the SHPE late.
- SBP election is due by your date and is effectively permanent (10 U.S.C. §1448) — decide before outprocessing week, not during it. See the SBP break-even guide.
- Verify the DD-214 line by line before signing.
Sources
- DAFI 36-3203, Service Retirements — ¶3.11 (application window/finality), ¶6.1.2 (SHPE), ¶6.1.3–6.1.4 (final out), ¶8.2.5 + Table 8.1 (retired grade)
- DAFI 36-3003, Military Leave Program — FY carry-over cap, ¶7.9.2.5 (sell-back career cap), ¶2.4.3.1 (SLA)
- AFI 36-2671, DoD SkillBridge Program (AF implementation) · DoDI 1332.35 (TAPS timeline + components)
- 10 U.S.C. §§1407, 1409 (retired pay), §1448 (SBP)
Spot an error? Tell us — citations are the product here.
Every deadline above, back-planned from your date. WheelsUp turns this checklist into live countdowns with the DAFI citation on each card — for AF/SF and all four other branches.