October 2025 - USMC Retirement Planning Gouge

 Marine Corps       Retirement


Navigating the Application Process & More

October 2025 Edition

Lance Donald

Congratulations!

The decision to apply for retirement from the Marine Corps after decades of service is not one made lightly. Like most endeavors, it comes with its challenges, or obstacles. They are numerous, but luckily for you, our outfit is reinforced with some combat engineers (insert corny analogy of how this eBook represents said reinforcement) – and they’ve got a breaching plan for us.

Thank you for choosing this guide as a starting point in your journey. I decided to compile some of the things that I learned in my own retirement application and planning process because I didn’t see a similar product out there.

The process for retirement varies widely across the services. This eBook can serve as a guide (and opinion piece) for navigating Marine Corps retirement – from application (including waiver requests) to more personal choices like maneuvering through life insurance decisions and

the disability compensation/medical preparation processes.

In taking a gander at this rambling, I’ll assume that you are either on the fence or that you’ve already made the decision that it’s time to drop that Appendix J bomb.

We’ll examine this mysterious “Appendix J” and how to get started in your application. Soon after getting an approved retirement date (or right now), there are lots of other variables that are probably going to be weighing on your mind…

- What am I going to do about life insurance?

- Where am I going to settle at...or will I?

- What am I retiring to?

- What will I do for work? Will I need to work again?

- Insert alternate career: Gentleman/Lady of Leisure

- What about education? Benefits transfer?

- Are all of my ailments documented, or have I

been shying away from medical all these years

because I’m a super-serious seafaring warlord?

- Is the Survivor Benefit Plan worth it? VGLI?

...all in good time. Let’s see what this Appendix J thing is all about.

The Appendix J

The Marine Corps Separations and Retirement Manual, or MARCORSEPMAN, exists to provide guidance on (you guessed it!) the retirement and separation of Marines.

The Appendix J is found within this publication and it is the preretirement application checklist, which will be routed from you to your unit commander. On this form, you will request that you be retired after 20 or more years of active service. You will select a date, and you may even include your reasons why you wish to do so (completely optional, of course).

Enlisted? Last day of the month.

Officer? First day of the month.

Once your commanding officer signs it (and makes any necessary endorsements for waiver requests), it will be forwarded to Headquarters, US Marine Corps, where it will be processed at MMSR, or Manpower Management Separation and Retirement.

The below link will take you to a fillable .pdf version of the Appendix J:

Behold, the almighty Appendix J!

Your unit’s S-1/Administrative support section may require you to route this application with a completion certificate for MarineNet’s Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) training, which, as best I can recall, was really just a click-through class on how SBP works.

Small potatoes there, though, let’s move on…

When I applied for retirement, I was over 2 years away from my requested retirement date. “Surely, this will get denied because it’s so far out,” I said. My wife and I already had what we thought to be a good “ballpark figure” on a retirement date, so I sent it down range anyway as a practice shot. That practice shot hit the target and it came back approved...probably because I attached a waiver request with my justification for the requested date. One, it aligned nicely with my rotation date...which is important to your monitor(s) – especially when

dealing with overseas assignments that a lot of folks fight tooth and nail to get out of. And second, it would allow my wife and I to separate from Okinawa without having to relocate for another tour stateside prior to separation. This was important to us because we were retiring to Thailand that coming summer. More on that later if you’re interested.

MarAdmin 175/24 provided an update to the timelines associated with retirement. Before this, the window for application was 4-14 months from your requested date – anything else would require a waiver. This aforementioned MarAdmin would change that window to “not more than 18 months and not less than six months prior to the requested retirement or resignation date.”

Ever get the feeling that you were part of the reason for a change in policy? 27 months prior is a long time...but, hey, I didn’t approve my own request.

Do You Need a Waiver?

What other scenarios might require a waiver to have your request approved?

- Obligated service incurred from school

attendance (WTI, AXLOC, EWS, etc.)

- Obligated service incurred from taking a

promotion (Major now incurs a 3-year obligation)

- Obligated service incurred from transfer

of education benefits (4 years if transferring that

The list goes on, but it’s important to understand whether or not your specific case/career-timing may mean that you need to request a waiver. In my case, since I was outside of the application window maximum of 18 months (at that time), I filled out an Administrative Action, or AA, form that detailed my justification. Your administrative support section should be able to help out with this one, but here’s a link to a blank one and a picture what mine looked like on the page after:

While the application for retirement is pretty straight-forward once you determine if waivers are required, the other targets you may want to shift fires toward can be kind of opinion-based...and in this case, those opinions are my own…

Let’s pick up with those after this next page, which features what my AA Form might’ve looked like.


 

What’s Next?!

Did your request to retire get approved?! Even if it’s still pending, you may decide that now that you’re no longer sitting on that fence, and shifting more energy toward a successful retirement, that you want to start heading over to medical to document all of those issues that you’ve been neglecting because of pride/tempo/insert other excuses here…

Because we all want to have those medical issues covered once we take off the uniform, right? Right. We do. But what if some of those issues can preclude us from getting a good life insurance policy after we separate? (lock it in early)

Why not lock in a term life insurance policy today – and have both SGLI (while still on active duty) AND have our own coverage that we only pay about a hundred bucks a month for?! That’s right...if you get a policy established, your family will be even better taken care of if you pass away while covered. It’s a win-win. There are tons of options out there for term life insurance, but since my family and I were stationed abroad, and most

companies want you to be stateside to get a check-up/physical, I decided to contact Navy Mutual for an estimate. I was contacted by an agent and, after ensuring that I could not only get checked out overseas and be covered abroad, got my documentation in order and set everything up. I visited my branch medical clinic here on Okinawa, once for the lab work and again for my provider to do a records review. Within a week or so, I had a great plan secured, allowing me the peace of mind I needed to get after attacking some other items.

Why is this important to me?

(Caution: Personal opinions follow)

Because I wanted to avoid both SBP and VGLI and do things on my own terms. Look, VGLI, over time (and especially later in life, like in your 60s), is going to get so expensive that it’s essentially on par with a mortgage. Don’t take my word for it, use this link to check out the age and coverage breakdowns:

To back up what I said though, below is a screen-grab from their site:


 

At age 65 to 69, the maximum coverage of $500,000 would cost you $735 each month. That’s not a good deal, especially if you are able to secure your own plan through a term life insurance policy – and keep monthly costs the same throughout the life of said policy. Think about this one carefully.

SBP isn’t life insurance, but it does serve to guarantee a percentage of your pension goes to your spouse/children upon your death. I’m not as smart on SBP as I am with VGLI, but I knew enough to say that I wanted to avoid it. Declining this (or securing it) is accomplished using the DD Form 2656 – Data For Payment of Retired Personnel. Your spouse will have to sign this in front of a witness/notary if you all are declining it. This form also serves as the basis for state tax withholding amounts, among other things (Page 7, Part V, Section XII – Spouse SBP Concurrence).

Note from source above on the 2656: If concurrence is not obtained when required, maximum coverage will be established for your spouse and child(ren) if appropriate.

Note: Establish a password and log-in for MyPay BEFORE separation! Once your first statement is available, adjust your tax withholding as needed.

Medical Tips & Good Ideas

I’ve read lots of things that friends have sent me over the past two years when it comes to that dreaded medical documentation and VA disability compensation preparation process. Some of it good, some of it very dry, all of it taken into account as I share what I did.

...and I’ll follow this up with an update to see if these practices helped me out (once I’m on the other side of the fence).

Update: Glad I did all of this.

1. Print out an overlay of the human body. Use this to think about any issues that you are having, head to toes. Internal. External. Mental. Embarrassing. Write them all down while visualizing each limb, the head, and otherwise.

2. Create a very simple spreadsheet (next page). Jot down, going head to toe, or vice versa, all of the same issues that you are having or have had.

That’s column 1, followed by whether or not it’s documented (no-kidding IN YOUR MEDICAL RECORD) in column 2, and then which part of the eCFR applies in column 3, then any notes on that issue you may have over in column 4. This isn’t science, nor did a medical professional tell me to do this.


Spreadsheet for Medical Issues

Start early and keep this as a living document as you get your records caught up. As my date got closer, I felt like I was hustling to get things done – even with 2 years of planning.

I won’t be long-winded on the pros and cons of the BDD (Benefits Delivery at Discharge) vs FDC (Fully Developed Claim), but if you want to ensure that your disability compensation is established and paid swiftly (within reason), you want to attack the BDD route. Reach out to a VSO one year out from your retirement date so that you can establish that most initial appointment. Target for filing: 180 days to 90 days before retirement date. Anything submitted afterwards will be a supplemental claim and compensation for those late-adds will be delayed.

Tools, Applications, and Good Gouge

1. Military Retire App

I use this app often. You can set up multiple profiles (different ranks, retirement dates, etc.) and it will adjust for state/federal taxes, VGLI, SBP, disability compensation, you name it. There are others. This is the one that I trust. It costs between 4 and 6 bucks.

2. The VA’s own disability calculator:

3. Understanding VA Disability, The eCFR – Electronic Code of Federal Regulations

4. Navy Mutual

Timelines

Right before I left my billet to begin SkillBridge, a senior SNCO buddy of mine walked into the company office to chat about moving abroad after retirement. I always enjoy these conversations because there are so many options when you think about location, visa types, property ownership, employment, etc. After tossing a few things back and forth, he asked about my own timeline and how I keep so many variables falling into the right place. I pointed to my timeline that I had taped to the wall next to my desk. It wasn’t elaborate or anything, just 3 or 4 pages of printer paper taped together to capture milestones and targets (not really a POA&M, just a linear timeline or “fishbone” to visualize things that needed to happen).

On the far right was my retirement date, established by an approved retirement application and a loose plan for the things in-between. From there, I worked backwards in 30-day blocks. 30 days before my retirement date, I’d begin terminal leave. 30 days prior to that, I’d begin 30 days of PTAD (house hunting, pack-up planning, etc.). The 120 days prior to all of that was when I was doing a remote SkillBridge, which ran concurrently with my BDD filing/C&P exams. These items, coupled with visa applications and other country-specific requirements were all important - but they only involved my own separation and final move.

Now think about the other variables that you need to plug in here. Our son was finishing up high school with plans to attend a university abroad (with far better grades than either of us ever had, I might add), so that added more visa requirements and VA benefits planning.

What major events do the rest of the family have coming up? Add them to your timeline, too. I was enrolled in a Thai language course. It was on there. We had a ton of check-out to do in order to clear out of our rented apartment in Okinawa - all added to the timeline. When are the packers coming? What are we doing with all of this stuff?! Are all of our visas lined up for us to straddle two or three countries while we wait for the dust to settle?!

As you can see, military retirement is alot like Transformers...as in, much more than meets the eye. Start with a very simple schematic, anchored on that retirement date - and start your own backwards planning.

Keep things gradual and focused - not chaotic.

This eBook is meant to be a fluid document that I will update on a regular basis as changes take place to the Marine Corps retirement application process or any other item covered. Any opinions on services or practices mentioned above (with the exception of how to submit the Appendix J and necessary waivers) are my own and are in no way endorsed by the Marine Corps or DoD. This is simply a summary and what has worked for me throughout this process. 2 months into retirement, I am still learning. Life right now looks like my wife and I relaxing with family in Thailand, while our son is attending college back in Japan. Please give us a follow, if you like, and questions are always welcome.

YouTube: Free Lance Travels

Website: Free Lance Travels

Thank you again for coming along and please feel free to reach out with any comments, critique, or anything you found helpful along your own journey.

Cheers, gang!

About the author:

I recently retired as a major from the United States Marine Corps, where I was serving as a company commander in Okinawa, Japan on my last tour. I began my career as an aircraft electrical systems technician, and eventually commissioned through the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program, or MECEP. Upon graduating from Ole Miss and attending The Basic School, I was assigned the MOS of 7204, or Low Altitude Air Defense (LAAD) Officer. After a few tours on the east coast, we headed west to Colorado Springs for a joint assignment, and then on to Okinawa, Japan, where my active duty days came to a close over the summer.

Comments

Post a Comment