Within one year before you plan to retire, write your Letter Requesting Retirement, or Request for Transfer to Fleet Reserve, and submit up the Chain of Command for endorsement.  Reference MILPERSMAN 1810-020.

The approved request will then be sent electronically to BUPERS by your Personnel Support Office.  You can expect an acknowledgement back in 5-7 days.

ENLISTED: An Extension of Enlistment is required if you don’t have enough obligated service to meet your Fleet Reserve/ Retirement date.  Submit a Request for Extension along with your letter if this applies to you.

Prepare and submit your Requests for Separation Leave and PTDY.  These leave requests should NOT have a Leave Control Number assigned by your command.  They will be controlled by the Station Personnel Support Office managing your records.

This is part of a complete step-by-step military retirement checklist. I’ll be posting weekly action steps here, so please subscribe over in the right-hand column so you’re sure to get each update.