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CHAPTER 9
SEPARATIONS, DISCHARGES,
AND RETIREMENTS
Every service member will eventually reach the
point when he or she will be separated, discharged, or
retired. To make sure these transitions go as smoothly
as possible for all concerned, disbursing personnel are
required to follow specific procedures. As a senior
Disbursing Clerk (DK), you must do your part to see
that these procedures are carried out as accurately and
smoothly as possible. Service members making these
transitions have enough to deal with; they do not need
additional problems caused by untimely or sloppy
processing of their pay and benefits.
Processing a separation, discharge, or retirement
involves a great deal of coordination and paper work.
Written procedures are established by local disbursing
officers (DOs) and approved by commanding officers
(COs) for this purpose. They prescribe proper lead
times, allowing disbursing personnel to receive and
process important documents on time. They set forth
guidelines for the timely notification of service
members who are being separated early (including
members who are transferring to another activity for
separation). They provide the disbursing office with
necessary lead time to carry out many important
procedures, including the following steps:
Stopping allotments the month before the
member’s separation
Performing the required precertification
procedures in case the member is entitled to
additional bonuses
Getting recoupment rates, if they are needed
Above all, written procedures provide required
guidance so that disbursing personnel can help service
members go through these sensitive transitions as
efficiently and painlessly as possible.
As a senior DK, you will be expected to know and
understand the procedures involved in processing
service members who are being discharged, separated,
or retired from active service. This chapter provides an
overview of some of these procedures. After studying
the information in this chapter, you should be able to
describe some of the basic procedures used throughout
Department of Defense (DOD) disbursing offices for
processing officer and enlisted discharges, separations,
and retirements. You should also be able to identify the
basic requirements and procedures for processing death
gratuities. Keep in mind that the scope of this chapter
is limited to an overview of these operations. Do not
use this chapter or any other part of this training manual
as a procedural operations manual. For official
guidelines, we recommend you consult the Department
of Defense Financial Management Regulations
(DODFMR), Volume 7A, Defense Finance and
Accounting Service (DFAS) Pay/Personnel Procedures
Manual (Navy) (DFASPPM), Naval Military Personnel
Manual (MILPERSMAN), Source Data System
Procedures Manual (SDSPROMAN), and your local
command’s instructions and directives. As a DK1 or
DKC, you will be expected to know how to carry out
your command’s procedures efficiently and effectively.
Most important y, the DOD is depending on you to train
junior personnel to carry out these important
responsibilities with accuracy and sensitivity.
ENLISTED PROCESSING
Enlisted processing involves the coordination of
disbursing and personnel functions. You may be
assigned to carry out or supervise some of these
functions. If so, you will likely become involved in
processing more enlisted members than any other
category of DOD personnel. To do this, you must be
able to identify, obtain, and process the specific,
required documentation. In the following paragraphs,
we describe some of these documents, the sources you
may need to contact to obtain them, and the disbursing
procedures you will likely use to process them.
INITIAL ACTION BY DFAS— CLEVELAND
CENTER
For a member who is separating from active
service, the Defense Finance and Accounting
Service—Cleveland Center (DFAS—CL) is the initial
source of documentation. Based on an enlisted
member’s expiration of active obligated service
(EAOS) date, the DFAS—CL will forecast payments
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