Very good advice. Hopefully service members find this video before they get too close to their retirement date. I've seen some absolutely botched retirements, including one SSG who was still trying to clear after he was supposed to be on leave. As you know, that is less than optimal, as days or even weeks of leave could be burned up trying to adjust dates. I recall him stopping in a few months later, saying that his retirement pay had just started. A lot of senior NCOs are the "leaders" mentioned in the video. It doesn't matter that you're leaving the military. It is, after all, Mission First, your replacement hasn't arrived, and you're still on the UMR. 30/60/90 chart be darned, you're going to the field next week, SFC; you'll get your ten days to clear, and we get back the day before your CIF turn-in, so that'll go smoothly. Actually, I haven't seen too many retiring NCOs treated like that, but I think many of us have known the enlisted Soldier who was sent to the field a few weeks before ETS. I followed much of the advice in this video, though I had to research it myself and find out through trial and error. I retired on 1 December 22, but was on leave by late July, having accrued 112 days, plus the PTDY. I planned around the holidays as much as possible, ensuring that both Juneteenth and the 4th of July would not be spent on leave. It didn't help that I started planning when I initially dropped my packet for a 1 October retirement; unbeknownst to me, the regulation had changed from one year on station to two years in June 2021, taking effect 1 October 2021, just a week or two before I dropped that packet. I'd gotten a local PCS earlier that year, so my retirement was denied. The waiver was approved, when I showed that the PCS was at no cost to the government, and I'd have been in the National Capital Region for nearly five years by the retirement date. One major advantage I had was that I worked for what I call the "Big Boy" Army. I was an Enlisted Advisor, working directly with an SGM and directly under a COL, with an MG running PEO Soldier at the time. As such, I had both a government laptop and cell phone, and given conditions at the time I mostly teleworked. When I had to submit the waiver, and later when I had to adjust my leave request, there was minimal bureaucratic interference. No waiting for the CO to sign it and the Training Room to take it to S1; no 1SG or CSM to kick it back or call me into their office to explain anything; just a hand delivery to the COL. I started the BDD for my VA claim right at 180 days out and completed all appointments within a month. It's true that they do not mess around with appointments; I recall my paperwork stating I could reschedule once and if I missed an appointment, I couldn't schedule another. We all know how much certain "leaders" care about what they deem to be personal appointments. If you're red in MEDPROS, you're going to be escorted to the appointment and arrive 30 minutes early. If you're trying to ensure your disability benefits begin shortly after retirement, well, that's something you can do on your own time, it doesn't matter that the VA scheduled the appointment, we have layouts that day. The unit and the operational environment can impact your transition plans as well. While my first few moves were smooth, even reporting to and then PCS'ing from USAREC, there were a couple of rough ones I learned from, and those experiences benefitted me when it was time to plan out the final countdown. In 2018, as I was leaving Benning, my NCOER kept getting delayed, requiring me to Final Out a few days into my planned leave. Not too big a deal for a PCS, but as the aforementioned SSG found out, it is a pretty major deal for retirement. I can keep my leave at my next duty station, but I need to have a zero balance at retirement, whether it's used or paid out. My final PCS, from the Military District of Washington to PEO Soldier, was a local PCS and I thought it would be simple. I did, after all, work alongside the J/G1, under a COL, and for a MG. It wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped. MDW falls under HHC, US Army Garrison, so despite not in-processing through them (having moved from The Old Guard), I had to out-process through them and HQ BN US Army. I didn't know anyone over there, and all of the company and battalion personnel were on a rotating office schedule. The four-plus months of retirement leave worked for me, but I was in a unique situation that most of my Infantry SFC peers would not be in. By the time my retirement took effect, I'd been working my civilian job for over a month, and within a week I got my first VA rating at 90%, followed a few days later by a letter rating me at 100% P&T. Ultimately, it worked out for me, I guess. I could still be in NOVA, making extremely good money as a contractor for PEO Soldier, but instead I decided to put the Army and government entirely behind me and moved 1000 miles away to work 40 hours a week. Thanks for the videos, I'm sure they help out quite a few Soldiers and other Service Members. While most of them no longer pertain to me, I like staying informed. I guess the thing I miss most about being an NCO is the ability to mentor and educate young Soldiers. But, as hinted at in the video, "The Army Goes Rolling Along..." I like to think I made a difference, but every time I left a unit, another NCO came along and did my job as well as, probably often better than, and unfortunately sometimes worse than I did.
Love your video sir! Imy retirement date is on 01 Oct 25 currently I have 76 leave date and 26 use/lose. I am overseas and plan to take terminal and ptdy. Any recommendation. Tia
shoot me a note at chuck dot weko at gmail dot com. I'm piloting my planning tools and I could use the help beta testing. As far as your specifics, there is something about being OCONUS or at sea that complicates matters. (I just haven't thought thru the whole thing yet). A couple quick thoughts. You have to make a pretty big move to get back stateside. How you plan and schedule the house hunting and movement will be important. Plus, with that much leave, you are going to take a huge chunk of leave in 2024 just to avoid losing leave.
I love your channel. Do you mind kicking around my scenario with me? I retire 1Oct25. I'm AD Air Force. My Command (CONUS) is deploying me OCONUS for 6 months from Oct24 to Apr25. Do I (should I) qualify as a returning OCONUS soldier? For my last 12 months of my enlistment I’ll be deployed, leading Airmen for 6 months of it. Thanks in advance
Send me a note at chuck.weko@gmail.com. I have to do a bit of digging into AFIs and I have a couple questions about "why" you would be going OCONUS...It just worries me that your retirement transition will be turbulent and will need a bit of careful planning.
Very good advice. Hopefully service members find this video before they get too close to their retirement date. I've seen some absolutely botched retirements, including one SSG who was still trying to clear after he was supposed to be on leave. As you know, that is less than optimal, as days or even weeks of leave could be burned up trying to adjust dates. I recall him stopping in a few months later, saying that his retirement pay had just started. A lot of senior NCOs are the "leaders" mentioned in the video. It doesn't matter that you're leaving the military. It is, after all, Mission First, your replacement hasn't arrived, and you're still on the UMR. 30/60/90 chart be darned, you're going to the field next week, SFC; you'll get your ten days to clear, and we get back the day before your CIF turn-in, so that'll go smoothly. Actually, I haven't seen too many retiring NCOs treated like that, but I think many of us have known the enlisted Soldier who was sent to the field a few weeks before ETS.
I followed much of the advice in this video, though I had to research it myself and find out through trial and error. I retired on 1 December 22, but was on leave by late July, having accrued 112 days, plus the PTDY. I planned around the holidays as much as possible, ensuring that both Juneteenth and the 4th of July would not be spent on leave. It didn't help that I started planning when I initially dropped my packet for a 1 October retirement; unbeknownst to me, the regulation had changed from one year on station to two years in June 2021, taking effect 1 October 2021, just a week or two before I dropped that packet. I'd gotten a local PCS earlier that year, so my retirement was denied. The waiver was approved, when I showed that the PCS was at no cost to the government, and I'd have been in the National Capital Region for nearly five years by the retirement date.
One major advantage I had was that I worked for what I call the "Big Boy" Army. I was an Enlisted Advisor, working directly with an SGM and directly under a COL, with an MG running PEO Soldier at the time. As such, I had both a government laptop and cell phone, and given conditions at the time I mostly teleworked. When I had to submit the waiver, and later when I had to adjust my leave request, there was minimal bureaucratic interference. No waiting for the CO to sign it and the Training Room to take it to S1; no 1SG or CSM to kick it back or call me into their office to explain anything; just a hand delivery to the COL. I started the BDD for my VA claim right at 180 days out and completed all appointments within a month. It's true that they do not mess around with appointments; I recall my paperwork stating I could reschedule once and if I missed an appointment, I couldn't schedule another. We all know how much certain "leaders" care about what they deem to be personal appointments. If you're red in MEDPROS, you're going to be escorted to the appointment and arrive 30 minutes early. If you're trying to ensure your disability benefits begin shortly after retirement, well, that's something you can do on your own time, it doesn't matter that the VA scheduled the appointment, we have layouts that day.
The unit and the operational environment can impact your transition plans as well. While my first few moves were smooth, even reporting to and then PCS'ing from USAREC, there were a couple of rough ones I learned from, and those experiences benefitted me when it was time to plan out the final countdown. In 2018, as I was leaving Benning, my NCOER kept getting delayed, requiring me to Final Out a few days into my planned leave. Not too big a deal for a PCS, but as the aforementioned SSG found out, it is a pretty major deal for retirement. I can keep my leave at my next duty station, but I need to have a zero balance at retirement, whether it's used or paid out. My final PCS, from the Military District of Washington to PEO Soldier, was a local PCS and I thought it would be simple. I did, after all, work alongside the J/G1, under a COL, and for a MG. It wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped. MDW falls under HHC, US Army Garrison, so despite not in-processing through them (having moved from The Old Guard), I had to out-process through them and HQ BN US Army. I didn't know anyone over there, and all of the company and battalion personnel were on a rotating office schedule.
The four-plus months of retirement leave worked for me, but I was in a unique situation that most of my Infantry SFC peers would not be in. By the time my retirement took effect, I'd been working my civilian job for over a month, and within a week I got my first VA rating at 90%, followed a few days later by a letter rating me at 100% P&T. Ultimately, it worked out for me, I guess. I could still be in NOVA, making extremely good money as a contractor for PEO Soldier, but instead I decided to put the Army and government entirely behind me and moved 1000 miles away to work 40 hours a week.
Thanks for the videos, I'm sure they help out quite a few Soldiers and other Service Members. While most of them no longer pertain to me, I like staying informed. I guess the thing I miss most about being an NCO is the ability to mentor and educate young Soldiers. But, as hinted at in the video, "The Army Goes Rolling Along..." I like to think I made a difference, but every time I left a unit, another NCO came along and did my job as well as, probably often better than, and unfortunately sometimes worse than I did.
I have to spend some time thinking about your comments because I feel like they open a window into a whole set of issues that need to be dealt with.
Love your video sir! Imy retirement date is on 01 Oct 25 currently I have 76 leave date and 26 use/lose. I am overseas and plan to take terminal and ptdy. Any recommendation. Tia
shoot me a note at chuck dot weko at gmail dot com. I'm piloting my planning tools and I could use the help beta testing. As far as your specifics, there is something about being OCONUS or at sea that complicates matters. (I just haven't thought thru the whole thing yet). A couple quick thoughts. You have to make a pretty big move to get back stateside. How you plan and schedule the house hunting and movement will be important. Plus, with that much leave, you are going to take a huge chunk of leave in 2024 just to avoid losing leave.
I love your channel. Do you mind kicking around my scenario with me?
I retire 1Oct25. I'm AD Air Force. My Command (CONUS) is deploying me OCONUS for 6 months from Oct24 to Apr25. Do I (should I) qualify as a returning OCONUS soldier? For my last 12 months of my enlistment I’ll be deployed, leading Airmen for 6 months of it. Thanks in advance
Send me a note at chuck.weko@gmail.com. I have to do a bit of digging into AFIs and I have a couple questions about "why" you would be going OCONUS...It just worries me that your retirement transition will be turbulent and will need a bit of careful planning.
@@the_bureaucratjust emailed you.