Expert: James Bell - 12/9/2003

Question
I'm not sure if you'll be able to answer this question, but perhaps you'll know the answer due to your relationships with other military personnel, if not from your own experience.

What I'd like to know is the process for leaving the military after being overseas. Let's say, you were overseas in a branch of the military and your time was up and you were going home and were going to carry on with a normal, citizen-ish domestic life. You're parting from the military. What processes would take place to make this happen once you got back on US soil?

Answer
Greetings Luke -

Although there are several different situations that are unique to various geographic regions, there are many procedures which are fairly generic.  Everyone in the military earns vacation time (leave) at a rate of 2.5 days per month.  Most people who are planning to leave the military save up their vacation time.  This allows them to transition back to civilian life while still earning a full-time military paycheck.  There is also a Transition Assistance Program (TAP) that also helps the person write resume's, and prepare to make that change from uniform to business suit.

Normally, those that are close to separation will be releaved from regular duty 30 days prior to their terminal leave date (the date they start that final vacation) to outprocess from the military.  This way they can concentrate on making that transition to civilian life, without having to continue doing their day to day job.  Depending on where they are stationed overseas, they may accomplish this outprocessing at their overseas duty location or, if they are at a small unit, they may be shipped back to the United States to outprocess there.

At any rate, the military does not just make you work overseas until your last day, then give you a ticket to the U. S. and drop you off somewhere.  There is a very involved (and highly regulated) process that is in place to make sure the separating member is given ample opportunity to prepare for their move back to civilian life.  That way, you are prepared BEFORE you get back to U. S. soil.  The member will be completely outprocessed from the military before they start their terminal leave, so they can fully concentrate on finding housing and employment in their final days while still receiving a full paycheck.

I hope this answered your question.  If not, don't hesitate to write again.

Sincerely,
James Bell