Requesting retirement while on PCS orders? Does anyone know which will take precedence or how to get my PCS orders deleted?

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 17:05:07 -0400

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Jul 5 at 2017 5:09 PM

SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 17:09:15 -0400

SSG Steve Pritchett, wow never came across that one, I would check with your local S-1 for assurance. Pending situations/circumstance I am pretty sure you can do a 4187 in lieu of PCS.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 5 at 2017 5:18 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 17:18:50 -0400

You can request retirement in lieu of PCS. You have to have 19 years 6 months on the day you're placed on assignment and you have to submit it within 30 days of assignment. Sometimes your branch manager may work with you to remove you from the assignment to allow you to submit your retirement, but they are not required to.
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Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 5 at 2017 5:24 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 17:24:05 -0400

My issue is that I do not hit 19 years until September this year so I do not qualify for the in lieu of PCS. My report date is in Nov and I am on assignment to Germany. Any other time and I wouldn't mind, but I have already begun making plans to retire. I did talk to my Branch manager and all I got was that I fit the requirements to go.

Response by LTC Mark Overberg made Jan 6 at 2018 12:04 PM

LTC Mark Overberg — Sat, 06 Jan 2018 12:04:13 -0500

You have 30 days from receiving the alert for PCS to request retirement in lieu of PCS and the retirement date must be within 6 months. If that doesn’t work, you take the PCS and have to stay there 1 year before retiring. Request retirement right after you arrive at the new post for 12 months out.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 11 at 2018 12:10 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 12:10:04 -0500

I was able to get my branch manager to allow me to submit my retirement packet by the end of Sep 17 and he deleted my PCS orders. All it took was a lot of emails and phone calls by the right people with the right rank. Thanks for all of the advice.

Response by LTC Mark Overberg made Apr 1 at 2019 5:47 AM

LTC Mark Overberg — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 05:47:15 -0400

Alert is not officially defined, but commonly understood to include orders and a request for orders. A discussion with an assignments officer or NCO is generally not considered an alert, but if a Soldier did not want to move, that would be the time to put in the request to retire - before the discussion became a RFO.