Military Retirement Checklist: Your Final Year at 20

• Submit a BDD disability claim between 180 and 90 days before retirement; filing on day 89 loses the BDD lane.
• Complete DD Form 2656 before retirement because it controls direct deposit, tax withholding, Arrears of Pay, and the SBP election.
• Treat SBP as irrevocable except for the DD Form 2656-2 termination window during months 25 through 36 after retired pay begins.
• Test myPay without a CAC at least 30 days before separation and retain access to active-duty records for 15 months afterward.
• Use DD Form 1172-2 at a RAPIDS office to obtain the retiree USID and update DEERS for eligible dependents.

Start your retirement file 12 months before you leave

Your service should send or begin your pre-retirement package about 1 year before retirement. Missing one signature can delay retired pay or trigger months of incorrect deductions.

Retirement requires actions that a normal separation does not. You must establish retired pay, make a Survivor Benefit Plan election, convert your identification credentials, and coordinate your retirement physical with any VA disability claim.

Do not assume the personnel office has every document it needs. By six months out, verify that your file contains:

• Retirement orders
• Separation data
• Statement of service
• High-average basic-pay or other applicable retired-pay computation data
• Correct retirement grade and creditable service
• DD Form 2656, Data for Payment of Retired Personnel

Your service personnel office sends the completed package to DFAS Retired and Annuitant Pay. Do not mail an improvised packet directly to DFAS to establish the account. Your job is to make sure your service has a complete, readable, properly signed file.

Use this timeline alongside the broader 18-month military separation checklist, which covers TAP, SkillBridge, household goods, records, terminal leave, and final out-processing.

Handle ordinary transition work at the same time. Complete TAP requirements and preserve personal copies of your records. Confirm any Post-9/11 GI Bill transfer before you leave service because retirement does not extend a transfer deadline you missed while serving.

DD Form 2656 establishes your retired-pay account

DD Form 2656, Data for Payment of Retired Personnel, gives DFAS the information required to establish your account. It includes:

• Direct-deposit information
• Federal and state tax withholding elections
• Arrears of Pay beneficiary designation
• Survivor Benefit Plan election

Complete the form early enough for your personnel office to inspect it and return it if a signature, date, or bank entry is wrong. Illegible handwriting, incorrect routing or account numbers, missing signatures, and submission after retirement can delay processing.

Keep the designated bank account open through the first retired-pay deposit. If you want to change banks, wait until the retirement account exists and you can confirm the change through myPay. Closing the original account while DFAS is processing your file creates an avoidable payment failure.

Some active-duty allotments transfer to retired pay; others do not. List every allotment you expect to continue, then compare your list with the first Retiree Account Statement. You may need to restart insurance, savings, or other payments after the retired-pay account opens.

Review the service-to-DFAS sequence and required documents on the retired-pay application page. If your retirement package has not been transmitted, contact your personnel office first.

Make the SBP election as if you cannot reverse it

Military retired pay ends when you die. It does not automatically become income for your spouse. The Survivor Benefit Plan, or SBP, lets you elect an inflation-adjusted survivor annuity based on part or all of your retired pay.

For spouse coverage, the annuity is 55% of the elected base amount. You can generally select a base from $300 through your full retired pay. A typical spouse premium can be up to 6.5% of the elected base and is deducted from gross retired pay.

A $3,000 elected base can produce a $195 monthly premium and a $1,650 monthly survivor annuity. Do not compare that premium only with private term life insurance. SBP provides continuing income and inflation adjustments rather than a fixed lump sum. Private insurance may fit some families better, but it solves a different problem.

Review the SBP costs and benefits rules before signing. They cover election options, automatic coverage, and spouse-concurrence requirements.

No election can mean full spouse coverage

If you are married and DFAS does not receive another valid election, full spouse coverage generally applies automatically. The premiums then come out of retired pay.

Reducing or declining spouse coverage requires spouse concurrence. Your spouse’s signature must be notarized, dated on or after your signature, completed before retirement, and witnessed by the notary on the date your spouse signs. If your spouse signs first, the election can be invalid.

Resolve any former-spouse court order before choosing current-spouse coverage. A conflicting order can create a coverage dispute that is difficult to correct after retirement.

You get one narrow cancellation window

Treat SBP as generally irrevocable. A limited termination window runs from the 25th through the 36th month after you first receive retired pay. You must use DD Form 2656-2, Survivor Benefit Plan Termination Request. A covered spouse or former spouse must consent.

You receive no refund of prior premiums, and the survivor loses the annuity. Termination is permanent. You cannot reenroll later because your health, finances, or family circumstances changed.

Other changes generally require a qualifying event such as marriage, divorce, death, birth, adoption, or loss of beneficiary eligibility. The SBP termination rules cover the third-year window and post-divorce deadlines.

Divorce does not automatically convert spouse coverage to former-spouse coverage. A member-directed conversion uses DD Form 2656-1 and must generally be made within 1 year of the divorce decree. A former spouse seeking a deemed election uses DD Form 2656-10 within 1 year of the applicable court order or decree.

File the VA claim from 180 through 90 days out

Benefits Delivery at Discharge, or BDD, allows an eligible active-duty member to file a VA disability claim 180 through 90 days before retirement. Day 89 is too late. You may still submit a standard pre-discharge claim, but you lose the BDD lane.

You need a known separation date and must be available for VA examinations for 45 days after submitting the claim. Submit Separation Health Assessment Part A, your medical-history self-assessment, with the claim. If you file online, VA obtains your service treatment records. For a non-online claim, you must provide a copy of the records for your current period of service.

Follow the VA pre-discharge claim instructions for the BDD window and filing mechanics.

List every claimed condition. Do not assume the examiner will identify an unlisted diagnosis because it appears somewhere in your record. Describe recurring symptoms, flare-ups, functional limits, and treatment from civilian or non-TRICARE providers.

Add newly identified conditions by day 90 before retirement when possible. Later additions may wait for post-discharge processing.

Before losing access to installation systems, save personal copies of:

• Complete service treatment records
• Civilian and non-TRICARE records
• Imaging reports and relevant images
• Duty-limiting profiles
• Specialty-clinic notes
• Separation Health Assessment Parts A and B
• VA examination notices and completed claim submissions

Use one Separation Health Assessment for both systems

The Separation Health Assessment can satisfy the DoD retirement or separation medical requirement while supporting your VA claim. Part A contains your medical history and self-assessment. Part B is the clinician’s assessment based on Part A and your service treatment records.

VA conducts the assessment for BDD and Integrated Disability Evaluation System participants. The military treatment facility handles it when you are not using BDD or IDES, or when fewer than 90 days remain.

Coordinate the physical through your medical readiness office and VA claim process. Ask which organization owns the examination, when Part A is due, and how you will receive a copy of Part B. You need one coordinated assessment, not competing VA and DoD appointments that leave both files incomplete.

Finish every required medical-examination phase before release from active duty. If VA schedules an examination during terminal leave, attend it or reschedule immediately. Terminal leave does not excuse a missed claim examination.

Make myPay work without your CAC at least 30 days out

Update myPay at least 30 days before separation. Test the login from a personal computer or phone without using your CAC. If the test fails, your account is not ready for retirement.

Establish or verify:

• Login ID and password
• Personal email address as the primary email
• Personal mobile number
• Security questions
• Two-factor authentication independent of government email
• Current mailing address
• Direct-deposit information

Download recent Leave and Earnings Statements and tax documents. You retain access to active-duty myPay records for 15 months after leaving service, but you may be locked out if your only authentication method was a surrendered CAC or inactive government email.

Once DFAS establishes retired pay, retirement myPay gives you access to the Retiree Account Statement, direct-deposit and address changes, allotment management, IRS Form 1099-R, and SBP coverage and premium details.

Expect the first deposit next month, but keep cash available

DFAS aims to issue the first retired-pay deposit on the first business day of the month following retirement, provided it receives a complete package and a correct, signed DD Form 2656. This is a processing goal, not a guarantee. Keep enough cash available to cover a delay.

Retired pay is due monthly on the first day. When the first falls on a weekend or federal holiday, payday moves to the last business day of the preceding month. Your first deposit may reach the bank before the mailed DFAS welcome letter.

When the first Retiree Account Statement appears, audit it line by line:

1. Confirm creditable service and retirement grade.
2. Compare gross retired pay with the expected retirement-plan calculation.
3. Verify the SBP category, elected base, beneficiary, and premium.
4. Check federal and state withholding.
5. Confirm the deposit account and every allotment.
6. Verify the Arrears of Pay beneficiary.
7. Review any VA waiver, offset, or concurrent-receipt treatment that applies.

Do not wait several months to report an error. Save the first statement and annotate the incorrect line. Contact the responsible personnel office if the underlying service record is wrong, or DFAS if the payment account is wrong.

Replace your CAC with a retiree USID

A military retiree is eligible for a DoD Uniformed Services Identification Card, or USID. The application identifier is DD Form 1172-2, Application for Identification Card/DEERS Enrollment. A RAPIDS ID card office processes it.

Do not confuse these credentials:

Schedule the RAPIDS appointment before surrendering or losing use of your CAC when the local office permits advance coordination. Update DEERS for yourself and eligible dependents, including personal email and mailing addresses. Confirm that your status changes from active duty to retired and that dependent records remain accurate.

Legacy paper-based USID cards marked with extended or INDEF expiration remained valid as of June 26, 2026, and DoD had not established a termination date. Eligible holders can keep the valid card or pursue a plastic-card replacement. Renewal may be available online with a myAuth login; otherwise, use a RAPIDS office.

A retiree USID supports military status and authorized base services, but it does not override installation security. Commanders can impose local entry procedures, close facilities, or restrict access based on force protection and operational conditions.

Treat Space-A as standby travel

Military retirees are eligible for Space-Available travel on military aircraft. Space-A can reduce travel costs when seats exist, but it is not a reservation. It does not guarantee your departure, routing, or return.

Do not build a cruise departure, wedding, medical appointment, or first day at a new job around Space-A. Weather, missions, maintenance, higher-priority passengers, and aircraft changes can remove seats with little warning.

Before relying on a flight:

• Contact the operating passenger terminal for its current sign-up method and required documents.
• Confirm passenger category, sign-up duration, baggage limits, reporting time, and destination restrictions.
• Carry your retiree USID and any passport or entry documents required for the destination.
• Leave several days of flexibility on both ends.
• Keep enough money or available credit for lodging, meals, ground transportation, and a commercial flight home.

Retiree privileges also generally include commissary, military exchange, and authorized morale, welfare and recreation facilities. Local availability varies. Your retiree USID usually supports broader retiree installation privileges than a VHIC issued solely because of VA eligibility, but local access controls still apply.

Audit documents and pay during the first 30 days

Your retirement ceremony is not the administrative finish line. Use this control list during the final week and first 30 days:

• Review retirement orders and DD Form 214 for errors.
• Save certified or official electronic copies of both documents.
• Confirm DD Form 2656 was signed and accepted before retirement.
• Verify required spouse concurrence was properly dated and notarized.
• Keep the direct-deposit account open through the first payment.
• Test personal myPay access without a CAC.
• Save LESs, tax statements, medical records, and claim confirmations.
• Complete all BDD and Separation Health Assessment examinations.
• Update retiree and dependent records in DEERS.
• Complete or schedule retiree USID appointments.
• Keep cash available for a delayed first retired-pay deposit.
• Audit the first Retiree Account Statement immediately.
• Verify SBP coverage, elected base, beneficiary, and premium.
• Test commissary, exchange, and MWR access with the retiree USID.
• Confirm Space-A procedures directly with the departure terminal.

Continue your employment work during the same period. Build a civilian version through the Military Transition Resume Center, check it with the free military resume score, and record interviews and follow-ups in the application tracker.

Open your retirement packet now. Write the status of DD Form 2656, BDD eligibility, myPay access, and your RAPIDS appointment beside each deadline.

Questions people actually ask

When should I start my military retirement checklist?

Start about 12 months before retirement, when your service should begin the pre-retirement package. Verify retirement orders, separation data, statement of service, pay-computation information, and DD Form 2656 no later than six months out. Begin the VA BDD claim between 180 and 90 days before retirement, then test personal myPay access at least 30 days before leaving.

Can I cancel SBP after military retirement?

Usually, you must treat the SBP election as permanent. A limited termination period runs from the 25th through the 36th month after you first receive retired pay. You use DD Form 2656-2, and a covered spouse or former spouse must consent. Premiums are not refunded, the survivor annuity ends, and termination permanently bars later reenrollment.

When should my first military retirement payment arrive?

DFAS aims to deposit your first retired payment on the first business day of the month following retirement if it received a complete package and valid DD Form 2656. The date is a goal, not a guarantee. Keep a cash reserve, leave the direct-deposit account open, and audit the first Retiree Account Statement for pay, SBP, taxes, and allotments.

What happens if I miss the 90-day BDD deadline?

You cannot use Benefits Delivery at Discharge if fewer than 90 days remain before retirement. You may still file a standard pre-discharge or post-service VA disability claim. Coordinate the DoD separation examination through your military treatment facility, preserve complete medical records, and list every claimed condition instead of assuming the examiner will add conditions for you.

Do I use my VA health card for retiree base access?

Your Veteran Health Identification Card is primarily a VA health-care credential. A military retiree should obtain the DoD Uniformed Services Identification Card through a RAPIDS office using DD Form 1172-2. The retiree USID establishes retiree status for authorized installation services. Entry still depends on local security rules, and no identification card guarantees access under every condition.

Is Space-A travel guaranteed for military retirees?

No. Space-A is standby transportation on military aircraft, not a confirmed reservation. Missions, maintenance, weather, and higher-priority passengers can remove available seats. Confirm current documents, baggage rules, sign-up procedures, and restrictions with the operating passenger terminal. Carry enough money for lodging and a commercial return ticket if the expected military flight does not operate.