Military transition timeline: 12, 6 and 3 months

Almost every official deadline in getting out counts from one date: your separation date. Some of those deadlines are set by law. Others are only advice, and the two are easy to mix up.

If you know the date you're getting out, you already know most of your deadlines. Nearly every official step in leaving the military counts in days from that one date. TAP has to start by 365 days out. A VA claim through BDD fits between 180 and 90 days out. Free life insurance ends 120 days after.

The hard part is telling the real deadlines from the advice. The Army's schedule puts Capstone at four to six months, and that's a recommendation, not a rule. Miss a real deadline and you lose options: with fewer than 90 days left, a claim can't go through BDD, and CHCBP, the health coverage you can buy after TRICARE ends, gives you 60 days to enroll.

Your dates count back from one day

The separation-date lookup below uses your last day of active service. Retirement counseling and TRICARE enrollment have their own rules, described below. For an ordinary Army separation, this can be the ETS date; confirm the last active-duty day on your orders. You'll find it on your orders, and later in the "Separation Date This Period" box on your DD-214.

Terminal leave doesn't move that date. By law, leave taken before discharge is active service, so you're still on active duty while you're on terminal leave. It ends on your separation date.

If you're retiring, your retirement date is normally the first day of a month and may differ from your last day on active duty. Use the actual retirement date for the 24-month counseling window and the 90-day TRICARE enrollment window. Ask TAP to confirm your individual schedule.

12 months out: start TAP

The Transition Assistance Program, or TAP, is mandatory if you've served 180 continuous days or more on active duty. Federal law sets one hard start date: pre-separation counseling must begin no later than 365 days before your separation date. If you're retiring, counseling should start as soon as possible in the 24 months before your retirement date.

Some pages say you have to complete TAP a year before you leave. That doesn't match the rules. TAP's last step, Capstone, is due 90 days before you separate. DoD policy says TAP must begin, and initial counseling must happen, by 365 days out. DoD's TAP overview goes further and says pre-separation counseling must be completed by then too. Having both done by then meets either reading.

TAP runs in a set order. It starts with initial counseling, a one-on-one meeting in person or by video. There you take a self-assessment that places you in a pathway, and you work on your Individual Transition Plan. Next comes pre-separation counseling. It's recorded on DD Form 2648, which you sign. The form goes into your service record and is checked again at Capstone.

Then come the classes. There's an eight-hour DoD transition day on managing your transition, matching your military job to civilian ones, and financial planning. There's a VA benefits day and DOL's one-day employment workshop. Last, you pick one two-day track: DOL employment, DOL vocational training, DoD education or SBA entrepreneurship.

Capstone ends it. Your commander, or someone the commander picks, decides whether you've met the career readiness standards and have a workable transition plan. If you haven't, your commander must make sure you're handed off to the right partner agency before your DD-214 is issued. Plan to finish Capstone no later than 90 days before you separate. DoD's TAP overview and Military OneSource say it must be done by then, and DoD policy says it should be. The Air Force adds that it should be no earlier than 12 months out.

If you learn you're leaving with 365 days or fewer to go, or you're a Guard or Reserve member being demobilized when the 365-day rule can't be met, TAP starts as soon as possible. Members leaving before 180 continuous days of active duty don't get TAP counseling, unless they're being retired or separated for disability.

The FY2026 defense bill, law since December 18, 2025, changed TAP in several ways. The law permits in-person pre-separation counseling where practical, with remote counseling, online modules and reading when your service determines in-person attendance is infeasible. A Guard or Reserve member who had pre-separation counseling in the last three years can ask the service to waive it, as long as nothing it covered has changed. The law also makes sharing your DD Form 2648 information with state veterans agencies the default, and has DoD add an opt-out to the form. None of these changes moved the 365-day or 24-month rules.

Your spouse can come too. All TAP workshops are open to spouses and caregivers, and they're especially encouraged to attend pre-separation counseling. The same 2025 law also allows a voluntary TAP pilot for spouses at up to five installations, though not in the Coast Guard.

What's required and what's only suggested

Only two TAP dates are fixed: counseling starts by 365 days out, and Capstone is due by 90. Everything in between has no official day, including DOL's one-day workshop, Employment Fundamentals of Career Transition, which is mandatory for everyone leaving.

The Army's suggested schedule is the clearest. It treats two things as fixed, initial counseling first and Capstone last, and gives month ranges for the rest. The Air Force recommends starting up to 18 months out if you're separating and up to two years out if you're retiring. Those are good targets, but they aren't deadlines.

6 months out: file a VA claim before you leave

Between 180 and 90 days before your separation date, you can file a VA disability claim through Benefits Delivery at Discharge, or BDD. You need a known separation date and full-time active duty, which includes Guard, Reserve and Coast Guard members on full-time active duty. You also have to be available for VA exams within 45 days of the day you file.

The point is speed. VA's goal is a decision within 30 days after you separate. That's a goal, not a promise. When you file, VA says you must include a completed Separation Health Assessment Part A, a self-assessment form, with the claim.

Some claims can't go through BDD. VA lists these cases: you need case management for a serious injury or illness, you're terminally ill, you're being treated in a VA or military hospital while you wait to be discharged, VA has to decide your character of discharge, or you can't make exams in those 45 days.

If you have fewer than 90 days left, you can still file a standard claim, so missing BDD doesn't mean missing your claim.

SkillBridge: up to 180 days, but your cap may be lower

SkillBridge, which the Army calls the Career Skills Program, has two rules set by law. You need at least 180 continuous days on active duty, and you have to be expected to leave within 180 days of the day the program starts. So 180 days out is the earliest a program can begin.

Most people hear "180 days." That's the outer limit, not what everyone gets. Each service caps it by rank, from 60 to 180 days, and the approval level varies too. In the Army, for example, E-8s, E-9s and officers O-4 and up need the first general officer in the chain with general court-martial authority.

Two services add terminal leave rules. In the Navy, the cap covers SkillBridge, terminal leave and PTDY together. A sailor with a 120-day cap and 60 days of terminal leave has 60 days left for SkillBridge.

For Army CSP, the duty status depends on the program’s distance and location. Current Army TAP policy permits an approved alternate transition center for some Soldiers who will not return to their permanent duty station. Have your command and transition office confirm leave, duty status and the place of final out-processing before committing to dates.

Where the table shows a range, your grade sets the number. A Space Force E-8 can get up to 120 days and an E-9 up to 90, for example, and an Air Force O-5 up to 60. For the Air Force, Space Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, the matrix doesn't say how SkillBridge and terminal leave combine, so ask before you plan around both.

Your separation exam comes before terminal leave

The separation exam is formally the Separation History and Physical Examination, or SHPE. TRICARE says to schedule it between 90 and 180 days before your end date, and before you start terminal leave. Military OneSource calls it a mandatory final medical and dental exam, so plan for the dental part too.

TRICARE's window is scheduling advice, and DoD's rule has more detail. If you're filing a VA claim, do the exam with VA no later than 90 days before you separate, when possible. An exam done up to 12 months out can count if it meets DoD's standards, but it has to be validated in the last 30 days before you separate, and an exam more than 90 days old also needs a medical assessment then. If you take terminal leave, your final out-processing day can stand in for your separation date in these counts, except the 12-month lookback, with your consent and your commander's approval.

Several windows overlap here. BDD, SkillBridge and TRICARE's exam window all open 180 days out, and at 90 Capstone is due and BDD closes. If you're starting SkillBridge, fit the exam and Capstone around it. In the Army, terminal leave starts only after you've finished every out-processing and transition requirement.

3 months out: Capstone and terminal leave

Ninety days out is the busiest date on the calendar. Capstone is due. It's the last day to file a VA claim through BDD. And if you're filing a claim, DoD wants your separation exam done with VA by then, when possible.

Terminal leave, if you take it, comes last and ends on your separation date. In the Army, it's ordinary chargeable leave that your unit commander approves, and you can't take more than you'll have on the books on your separation date.

You don't have to use all your leave that way. In the Army, you can sell leave, take it as terminal leave, or do some of each. Selling has a limit for every service: 60 days over your whole career, minus any days you've sold before, with a few exceptions such as some Reserve contingency duty. Each day is paid at the basic pay you're getting on your discharge date.

If you are retiring or separating involuntarily, ask your command whether you qualify for non-chargeable administrative absence for job or house hunting. Eligibility and approval depend on the applicable service policy; do not add those days to your plan before approval.

After you separate: health care, insurance and your move

Your active-duty TRICARE generally ends at 11:59 p.m. on your last duty day. You keep TRICARE Prime through terminal leave.

TAMP gives 180 days of transitional coverage starting at separation, but only to some people. The list includes members involuntarily separated under honorable conditions, some Guard and Reserve members coming off more than 30 consecutive days of active duty for a contingency or preplanned mission, and members who agree to join the Selected Reserve. A routine voluntary separation at the end of an enlistment isn't on it. Your service decides who qualifies, and TAMP doesn't run during terminal leave.

If you don't get TAMP, or when it ends, you can buy coverage through the Continued Health Care Benefit Program, or CHCBP, as long as you separated under other than adverse conditions. You have 60 days after losing TRICARE to enroll. It can cover a member released from active duty for up to 18 months, and it charges premiums.

If you're retiring, you have 90 days after your retirement date to enroll in a TRICARE plan, and coverage starts on your retirement date. Miss it and you wait for open season or a qualifying life event, though some retirees can enroll up to 12 months after retiring. Ask TRICARE whether that applies to you.

You can apply for VA health care as soon as you have your separation or retirement papers. If VA finds you eligible, you're enrolled once you're out. If you served in a combat theater and were discharged after September 11, 2001, you have 10 years of enhanced eligibility starting on your discharge date.

Your SGLI life insurance keeps covering you free for 120 days after you separate. For VGLI to pick up on day 121 with no gap, your application and first premium have to arrive by day 120. Apply by day 240 and nobody asks about your health. One calendar year and 120 days after separation is the last day to apply.

Your final move at government expense has its own limits, and they differ for separating and retiring members. If you're separating without severance or separation pay, the move goes to your home of record or the place you entered active duty. Your written request has to reach the transportation office by day 180, or the authority ends on day 181. Government storage also ends at day 180.

If you retire for disability or enter the temporary disability retired list, or retire with pay or receive severance or separation pay after 8 or more years of continuous active duty, the move can go to a home you choose. For active duty ending on or after June 24, 2022, your goods have to be turned over for shipment within 3 years after it ends, and government storage lasts 1 year. Extensions are limited to cases such as hardship. If you receive severance or separation pay with under 8 years, ask your transportation office to confirm the applicable travel and storage limits. The office confirms your entitlement and handles extension requests.

If you're retiring, in the Guard or Reserve, or on a medical board

If you're retiring. You can start pre-separation counseling up to 24 months out. You have 90 days after your retirement date to enroll in TRICARE, and retirees aren't on TAMP's list. In the Army, you may also get job- and house-hunting time, and you keep TAP eligibility for life.

If you're in the Guard or Reserve. If you're demobilizing and the 365-day rule can't be met, TAP starts as soon as possible. Army Guard and Reserve soldiers should confirm required counseling with their TAP office before mobilization. BDD is open to you only while you're on full-time active duty. If you qualify for TAMP, it starts the first day after your active duty ends, and you have 90 days after deactivation to change your TRICARE plan.

If you're leaving through a medical board. If you're being retired or separated for disability, TAP applies to you even with fewer than 180 continuous days of active duty. Instead of DOL's one-day workshop, you take the Wounded Warrior and Caregiver Employment Workshop, which is self-paced online. If IDES finds you medically unfit for duty, it gives you a proposed VA rating before you leave, and you're entitled to Veteran Readiness and Employment services.

If you're being involuntarily separated. For a regular enlisted member, being denied reenlistment counts. You're on TAMP's list if your separation is under honorable conditions, and if you learn of it with a year or less to go, TAP starts as soon as possible.

If you're in the Coast Guard. The TAP law covers you. SkillBridge allows up to 180 days at any rank, and BDD is open to you on full-time active duty.

One example, start to finish

Example (fictional) Tasha Greer is a 27-year-old Navy petty officer first class (E-6) leaving at the end of her enlistment. Her separation date is November 30, 2027, so in October 2026 she's about 14 months out. She has 30 days of leave saved and plans to use all of it as terminal leave. She wants to do SkillBridge, and she has a back injury she plans to claim with VA.

She books initial counseling for October, well before November 30. Her SkillBridge cap as a Navy E-6 is 120 days, and in the Navy that includes terminal leave, so taking 30 days of terminal leave leaves room for about 90 days of SkillBridge. She plans the program for August through October. Because she'll be away then, she files her BDD claim on June 3 or soon after, does her VA exams and her separation exam in June and July, and finishes Capstone in July. That exam will be more than 90 days old when she leaves, so she also plans the validation and medical assessment DoD requires in the 30 days before she out-processes, with her commander's approval. She's leaving voluntarily and isn't joining the Selected Reserve, so she doesn't qualify for TAMP. She applies for VA health care when her separation papers arrive and prices CHCBP as a backup. She sends in her VGLI application and first premium in December, and gets her written request for a final move to the transportation office well before May 28.

This is general information, not legal, medical or claims advice for your situation. For free help in person, your installation TAP office works with you and your spouse until 180 days after you separate or retire. Military OneSource is open to you and your immediate family until 365 days after an honorable discharge or retirement.