The complete separation checklist.
Seven phases, from a year before you take the uniform off to two years after. Most of it is not urgent, which is precisely why it gets skipped. Five items carry real deadlines, and missing those costs money, coverage, or months of waiting. Those are listed first, then the whole route in order.
Nothing here is invented. Every step links to the VA, DoD, SBA, DOL or TRICARE page that governs it, so you can check us. Rules change - the official page always wins over us.
The five that actually bite
Everything else on this page can slip a few weeks. These cannot.
Want these dated to your actual separation month?
Answer a few questions and this checklist comes back filtered to your situation, with your real dates and calendar reminders - free, about ten minutes.
Early planning
Nothing here is urgent yet, which is exactly why most people skip it and pay for it later. These are the moves that make every later step cheaper.
ID.me or Login.gov. Nearly every benefit below starts here. Ten minutes now, no waiting rooms later.
Veteran Service Organizations help with claims and benefits at no cost. Never pay a percentage of your benefits to anyone.
Only if you expect to file a disability claim.
Every condition you will claim needs to be documented while you are still in. See your provider about anything you have been ignoring.
Only if you are heading for employment.
Use the crosswalk to see how your military occupation maps to civilian titles.
Only if you are heading for employment.
Up to your last 180 days working with a civilian employer while still on active-duty pay. Requires command approval - raise it early.
Only if you are heading for school.
The comparison tool shows what each school actually pays out - tuition, housing allowance, and outcomes.
Only if you want to start a business.
The TAP entrepreneurship track. Two-day intro plus follow-on course, free for transitioning members and spouses.
Price it against real costs where you are actually going. Cost of living can swing your runway by months.
Only if you have family moving with you.
Timeline, location shortlist, school calendars, and your spouse's career all belong in one honest conversation - before decisions lock in.
TAP and benefits research
The first hard deadline lands in this phase, and it is set by law rather than by preference.
Required by law - begin no later than 365 days before separation. If you are retiring rather than separating, the statute expects it to start as soon as possible inside the 24 months before your date. Pick the track matching your goal: employment, education, or entrepreneurship.
Only if you expect to file a disability claim.
Document each one with a provider visit now. Evidence gathered in uniform is the strongest evidence you will ever have.
Only if you are heading for employment.
Most veteran hires come through people, not portals.
Only if you are heading for school.
Your military training may already be worth college credit.
Only if you have a spouse with a licensed profession.
Many states expedite or reciprocate military-spouse licenses - start the paperwork before the move, not after.
SGLI does not follow you automatically. Know the post-separation deadlines now so they never sneak up.
Only if you are retiring rather than separating.
An irrevocable retirement-day decision that affects your family for life. Talk it through with a counselor and your spouse.
States run benefits on top of your federal ones - property tax, education, and employment programs vary a lot by state.
Applications and ramp-up
The BDD window opens and closes inside this phase. Miss it and you wait months longer for a decision, on the outside, without pay.
Only if you are filing a disability claim.
The window is 180 to 90 days before separation. File inside it and your exams happen while you are still in, so a decision can land right after you are out.
Only if you are heading for employment.
Tailor the resume per posting, use veterans' preference on federal jobs, and keep the networking conversations running in parallel.
Only if you are heading for school.
Apply for the Certificate of Eligibility early - schools want it in hand and processing takes time.
Only if you are moving with children.
Mid-year school moves are the hardest part of a PCS for kids. If the timeline allows, aim for summer, and request school records early.
Project the gap between your last military paycheck and your first civilian one. That number drives every other financial decision.
Final out and the move
One signature in this phase follows you for the rest of your life. Read it before you sign it.
Errors here follow you for decades - awards, schools, deployments, character of service. Fix them while you are still standing in the building.
Enrollment is separate from claims. Recent-era combat veterans and many others have enhanced eligibility windows.
Only if you have family on your coverage.
Some separations qualify for 180 days of transitional TRICARE (TAMP). Confirm your eligibility and line up what follows it - no coverage gaps.
Only if you will not have income waiting.
Ex-service members can file for unemployment in their state right after separation. It exists for exactly this bridge - using it is smart, not shameful.
Free counseling, tax help, and consultations continue for a full year after separation.
Landing
The paperwork phase is over and the quiet one begins. The deadline in here is the one veterans most often discover too late.
Get in the system and book a first appointment even if you feel fine - established care makes everything later easier.
Apply within 240 days of separation and no health questions are asked. The absolute deadline is one year and 120 days, but 240 days is the one that matters.
Only if you are filing a disability claim.
An Intent to File preserves your effective date for a year while you build the claim properly. Free VSO help, never claim sharks.
Only if you have started work.
Find the veteran employee group, learn the unwritten rules, and give yourself six months before judging the fit.
The mission-and-identity gap usually hits after the boxes are unpacked. Vet Centers offer free, confidential readjustment counselling - no rating or enrollment needed.
Stabilization
Far enough out that nobody is checking on you any more. This is where the honest reassessments belong.
Only if you filed a disability claim.
If it is wrong or incomplete there are free, structured review paths - supplemental claim, higher-level review, board appeal. Never pay a percentage to anyone.
Only if you have started work.
If the fit is wrong, that is data, not failure.
Three to six months of the new civilian budget, then start on longer-term goals.
Only if you are in school.
Tutoring, priority registration, and people who get it. Students who connect early finish at higher rates.
Teaching the next transitioning service member what you learned is the fastest identity upgrade there is.
Growth
You have civilian evidence now. That changes what you can ask for.
Only if you have started work.
Benchmark your pay against official Bureau of Labor Statistics data and negotiate from evidence.
Only if you have a service-connected rating.
Veteran Readiness and Employment can fund retraining beyond the GI Bill if a service-connected condition limits your line of work.
Programs and eligibility rules get updated. A yearly check keeps money on the table from going stale.
No down payment and no monthly mortgage insurance for most eligible veterans. Compare the current funding fee before committing.
What this page deliberately is not
This is the generic route. It is the same set of steps for a Marine sergeant leaving at four years and a Navy captain retiring at thirty, which means a good third of it will not apply to you and none of it carries your dates.
The version we build for you is filtered to your branch, your separation month, and what you actually want next - so the BDD window shows as real calendar dates you can still hit, finished items stay checked off, and phases you have already passed come back as a catch-up list rather than a guilt trip. That part needs an account, because it needs your answers. Nothing on this page does.
Turn this into your plan.
Same checklist, dated to your separation and filtered to your situation. Free, and every figure still links to its official source.
Every source on this page
- DoD TAP
- VA - pre-discharge (BDD) claims
- VA - Intent to File
- VA - VGLI
- VA - apply for health care
- GI Bill Comparison Tool
- VA - apply for education benefits
- SkillBridge
- SBA - Boots to Business
- Joint Services Transcript
- VA Vet Centers
- Military OneSource
- DOL VETS
- VA - accredited representatives
- My Next Move for Veterans
- VA home loans
- Survivor Benefit Plan
- TRICARE - TAMP
- VA - VR&E (Chapter 31)
- VA facility locator
Shorter version of this page: the military transition timeline. More guides: all VetPath guides. If you are in crisis right now, start here - the Veterans Crisis Line is 988, then press 1.
A step here that did not match your situation? Tell us what you need - a person reads every note, and it shapes what gets built next.