Getting out, military retirement, military to civilian transition

Benefits

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Leaving the service

Whether you’ve served for four years or 30, transitioning back to civilian status is one of the biggest changes you’ll face in your military life. To ensure a smooth change, it pays to do your homework long before you hang up the uniform. Likewise, you should make sure you know as much as you can about the benefits you rate as a result of your military service. Read on to learn more about health care, veterans’ job preference for government employment and more.

Retirees under 65 should pay more for Tricare, QRMC says
The idea that military retirees under age 65 should pay more for their Tricare benefits has become a familiar Pentagon refrain, voiced in a 2006 report on military compensation and by the 2007 Task...
VA wary of ideas to quickly deal with claims backlog
The Department of Veterans Affairs hopes to one day harness the power of technology to speed the processing of veterans’ benefits claims, but it is wary of ideas for quickly reducing the claims...
Retirement: Basic plans
Eligibility. Twenty years on active duty — or equivalent time spent in what is known as “qualifying service” as a reservist — is the basic eligibility requirement for military...
Retirement: Disability benefits
You do not have to be retired from the military to receive disability benefits from the Veterans Affairs department. There are two types of compensation, VA disability and VA pension.
Disability retirement
Permanent disability. This is one of two types of disability retirement available through the Defense Department. Service members officially rated at least 30 percent permanently disabled, according...
Disability system overhaul
In the wake of the outpatient treatment controversy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington in early 2007 and other issues related to health care for troops returning from the wars in Iraq...
Retirement: Retired pay offset
A 19th-century law required disabled military retirees to forfeit $1 of retired pay for every dollar received in VA disability compensation. In recent years, Congress has enacted two separate but...
Retirement: Spouse benefits
Military spouses are eligible for, and encouraged to take advantage of, many transition services available to their active-duty military partners.
Retirement: Stop-loss
Stop-loss authority allows the services to retain individuals on active duty beyond their dates of separation, thus preventing them from voluntarily retiring or leaving the service.
Other benefits: Allotments
Military retirees have several options for automatic paycheck deductions. They can establish discretionary allotments to pay insurance premiums, mortgages, rent or loans; support relatives;...
Other benefits: Cost-of-living adjustments
Retired pay rises each year to ensure inflation does not erode retirees’ purchasing power. These cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, are based on changes in the Labor Department’s...
Other benefits: Death benefits
While VA does not provide military funeral honors, the Defense Department does. However, VA, the active-duty military and many veterans groups pool their resources to provide financial help,...
Other benefits: Education
The Montgomery GI Bill has two components for active-duty and Selected Reserve service members.
Other benefits: Garnishment
A civilian court can garnishee the income of retirees if they fall behind in alimony or child support. Garnishment begins with a court order sent to a military finance center.
Other benefits: Health care
All retirees and their dependents retain eligibility to be treated in military hospitals and clinics when they turn 65. But care is provided on a space-available basis, and getting an appointment is...
Other benefits: Life insurance
Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance coverage is available in $50,000 increments up to a maximum of $400,000.
Retirees and other eligible veterans of regular military service, including reservists, can apply for a VA-guaranteed loan to buy or build a house.
Other benefits: Medals and decorations
Retirees who have lost medals or decorations, or never received ones they earned, may request them at any time. The government will replace, at no cost to the veteran, lost or destroyed decorations...
Other benefits: Moving and storage
Service members who retire from the military can move anywhere in the continental U.S. at government expense; they do not have to be going to their official home of record.
Other benefits: Retirement homes
A number of retirement and long-term treatment facilities are available to veterans. Most veterans’ retirement homes are free to residents, although some ask for payments.
Other benefits: Social security
As a rule, service members can receive Social Security coverage for retirement, survivors’ income, disability income, Medicare and burial expenses. Retirees can receive military and Social...
Other benefits: Space-available travel
Retirees and their families can get seats aboard government aircraft under the military’s space-available program, which offers empty seats to certain members of the military community.
Other benefits: Survivor benefits
To enable retirees to provide for their families after their deaths, the government offers an annuity program called the Survivor Benefit Plan.
Other benefits: Taxes
Most retirement pay is subject to federal income taxes. So are SBP benefits. Retirees who entered the military before Sept. 24, 1975, and members receiving disability retirements based on combat...
Other benefits: Transition assistance
Most major installations offer a variety of services to retiring service members. Job-hunting seminars, one-on-one assistance with writing résumés and computerized job banks are a few of...
Other benefits: Uniforms and insignia
Military retirees and veterans can wear uniforms and medals long after separation.
Other benefits: Vocational rehabilitation
The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program assists veterans with service-related disabilities to achieve independence in daily living and, when possible, obtain and maintain suitable...
Separation: Career resources
Job fairs and online resources. Chances are that your local transition office sponsors one or two job fairs each year. This is an opportunity to talk with potential employers. Prepare a...
Separation: Dependent schooling
If your separation or retirement date coincides with your teenager’s senior year of high school, that could mean a tough adjustment for your child, who might have to change schools.
Separation: Health care
Separating service members can buy health care policies for themselves and their family members through the Continued Health Care Benefit Program, which is designed to provide coverage while you wait...
Separation: Household goods
The government will pay for separating members to ship their personal property to their “home of record.” Shipments must be completed within 180 days of the separation date. The...
Separation: Housing
If you live in military housing, you must schedule a final inspection and moving date with the housing office on your installation. Most bases suggest contacting the housing office at least 30 to 40...
Separation: Job preference
Under the Veterans Recruitment Appointment authority, veterans may be appointed to a federal civil service position without having to compete for it. Veterans must meet basic qualifications for these...
Separation: Leave
Looking for a civilian job while relocating to a new community can be challenging. But active-duty members may be able to take time away from their military jobs to look for civilian employment and a...
Separation: Life insurance
A major concern of service members with families is whether they have enough life insurance.
Separation: Spouse benefits
Many of the transition benefits available to military members are also extended to their spouses.
Separation: Stop-loss
Presidential authority may suspend any provision of law pertaining to separation and retirement from the military. In other words, the military may legally keep you in uniform past your planned...
Separation: Training
The Veterans Employment Training Service, an agency of the Labor Department, works with VA, the Defense Department, nonprofit organizations, and state and local governments to help separated and...
Separation: Travel
Separating members and their families are entitled to travel from their final duty station to a permanent U.S. home at the government’s expense
Senators want to streamline job help for vets
With the Pentagon touting a new Web site as a way to expand transition and employment help for separating service members, some lawmakers are questioning whether too many competing programs are...

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