Kansas Air National Guardsman completes first online retirement Published May 10, 2007 By Master Sgt. Greg Burnetta 190th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs FORBES FIELD, Kan. -- A Kansas Air National Guardsman was the first Guard Airman to complete the new online Air Force retirement process, which became mandatory April 15. Tech. Sgt. Kenneth Ellis, 190th Civil Engineer Squadron, applied for retirement using the system March 15, the day the process went live, and his retirement documents were sent to him March 30. Sergeant Ellis said he was a little apprehensive when he first learned of the new system just two days before the process kicked off. "The date I was planning on retiring was less than six months away so I did not think the process would work for me," he said. According to National Guard Bureau policy, base-level transactional work related to the retirement process will no longer be performed by the military personnel flight. However, any paper retirement applications initiated before April 15 will continue to be processed until they are completed or closed. Guardsmen submitting requests for retirement are now required to follow the instructions contained in a March 9 ANG retirement processing policy handout available from commander support staffs or online at the Air Force Personnel Center Web site, which holds the total force personnel services delivery transformation tools. For traditional Guardsmen or military technicians applying for a Reserve Retirement, the effective date of retirement must be no earlier than 12 months and no later than six months before the requested retirement date. Active Guard Reserve Guardsmen applying for active-duty retirement may apply no sooner than one year before the desired retirement date, but no later than 120 days before the effective date plus any desired terminal leave or permissive temporary duty. If AGRs are requesting a retirement date before their established AGR tour completion date, they must request a curtailment from their AGR tour through their servicing human resource office or remote designee. Once the online application is complete, it will be forwarded to their unit commanders and then to the wing commanders for recommendations. It is important to note that applications submitted outside the standard application window will require a waiver approved by the wing commander or equivalent. Waivers should only be requested as a last resort in the best interest of the ANG or for hardships, officials said. By submitting an application as outlined in the policy handout, AGR Guardsmen provide the Reserve Personnel Contact Center enough time to process the application and issue retirement certificates, and publish and distribute retirement orders. When a Guard Airman wishes to retire, he or she will submit a request for transfer (or assignment) to the Retired Reserve online through the virtual Personnel Center - Guard and Reserve. No further participation is authorized for pay or points on or after the retirement effective date. The Air Reserve Personnel Center Web site is located at http://arpc.afrc.af.mil. Guard Airmen should follow the prompts for the retirement application by clicking on vPC-GR. While it might sound like a complicated process, Sergeant Ellis said he "liked how user-friendly the process" was. "This process is one of the only ones I have found that was this user-friendly from the start," he said. Staff Sgt. Alex Dunning, a personnel specialist for the 190th Mission Support Squadron, said once an Airman creates an account, he or she may do many other things online such as obtaining Department of Defense Form 214 copies, obtain copies of enlisted and officer performance reports or a copy of a previously issued 20-year letter. Airmen may check on their retirement status at any time after submission by logging onto the vPC-GR, Sergeant Dunning said. A few common user errors noted so far include Airmen entering an incorrect e-mail address for their unit or wing commanders and incorrect information for their points of contact, he said. An incorrect e-mail address will cause the application to be in a "pending" status and delay the processing of the retirement application. Sergeant Ellis said the new retirement process wasn't just easy to understand, it was also a timesaver. "For me, it did not take any longer than one hour for the first part of the process," he said.