How to File Air Force Form 100: Request and Authorization for Separation

DAF Form 100, Request and Authorization for Separation, is the request you submit to the Air Force Personnel Center so it can cut your official separation or retirement orders. You initiate it through myFSS, and AFPC will not produce orders until the form is approved along with its prerequisites. File it early, make sure every field matches your Master Personnel Record, and finish the supporting steps (TAP, the separation health exam, and terminal leave approval) before you expect orders in hand.¹

When to File

Active-duty members can apply for retirement up to 12 months before the desired retirement date, and no later than four months out. Applications inside that four-month window require a waiver with written justification. Reserve and Air National Guard members follow a similar 12-month-to-180-day window.² For a non-retirement separation at the end of an enlistment, you can generally initiate the request within 180 days of your expiration of term of service.

Filing at the outer edge of that window is the safer choice. AFPC targets issuing separation orders no later than 90 days before a separation date and 180 days before a retirement date, and early filing gives the personnel flight time to catch mismatches before they turn into holds.

One date rule catches people every year: a military retirement is effective on the first day of a month, so your last day drawing active-duty pay is the final day of the preceding month. Terminal leave, permissive TDY, and out-processing all key off that date. If it is wrong on the form, everything downstream shifts with it.

What Has to Be in Motion Before You File

DAF Form 100 does not stand alone. Several requirements must be started or complete before AFPC will move your request, and missing any of them is a common reason orders stall.

Transition Assistance Program

TAP is mandatory for every service member with 180 or more continuous days on active duty, and it must begin no later than 365 days before your transition date. The sequence runs from an individualized initial counseling session with a transition counselor, through a pre-separation brief, DoD Transition Day, mandatory VA benefits and Department of Labor employment courses, and finishes with a capstone event where your commander verifies you have met all career readiness standards.³ If an unanticipated separation leaves you fewer than 365 days, TAP must begin as soon as possible within the time remaining.

Separation Health Physical Examination

The SHPE is required before you leave active duty. A DoD-conducted exam within 30 days of separation needs no further documentation. Between 31 and 90 days out, an administrative validation must occur no more than 30 days before your date of separation. When the VA conducts the exam, it can happen up to 180 days before separation, but a DoD official still has to review it, document that review in your service treatment record, and complete a validation within the final 30 days.⁴ Air Force guidance is to start the process 180 to 90 days before separation by completing DD Form 2807-1 through MyIMR.⁵

Your official separation date will not be moved to accommodate a late SHPE.⁵ Inside the last 90 days, a VA exam can no longer substitute, and you will have to complete the exam at a military treatment facility.

Terminal Leave and PTDY

AFPC will not finalize your separation paperwork until your commander has approved terminal leave. Finance needs either an approved LeaveWeb entry or a signed DAF Form 988 to close out your pay. LeaveWeb only accepts requests within 60 days of the leave start date; if your terminal leave starts further out, your commander signs a DAF Form 988 and you take that to finance for a leave authorization number.⁶

Permissive TDY is separate. CONUS-based members can receive up to 20 days of PTDY, overseas-based members up to 30, and involuntary separatees under honorable conditions are limited to 10. Your losing unit commander approves PTDY, and it cannot interfere with the mission.⁷

What DAF Form 100 Asks For

The form captures identification, unit assignment, separation authority, and travel entitlement data. Every entry has to match your Master Personnel Record; a mismatch creates an administrative flag that stops processing.

Full name, Social Security Number, current grade, and date of birth exactly as they appear in your personnel record.
Your Personnel Accounting Symbol code, which identifies the unit you are departing. Get it from your orderly room or unit personnel records.
Separation type and authority: retirement, end of enlistment, or administrative discharge, along with the specific paragraph of DAFI 36-3211 or DAFI 36-3203 that authorizes it.
Projected dates: date of separation, terminal leave start date, and PTDY dates if applicable. For retirements, the date of separation falls on the first day of a month.
Home of selection. This is the address where you plan to live after separation, and it drives how far the government pays for mileage and household goods under the Joint Travel Regulations. A wrong address delays thousands of dollars in reimbursement.⁸

The form is signed by both the member and the orders-issuing official. Depending on your separation type, supporting documents may need to be attached, such as a retirement certificate, a commander’s separation memorandum, or leave approval documentation.

Submitting Through myFSS

Separation and retirement actions now run through myFSS rather than vMPF. Log in, type “3079” in the search bar, and select Separation Orders to send your request to AFPC.⁹ Be specific in the request: separation type, requested date of separation, and any circumstance the technician needs to know. Nothing here is automatic; you have to initiate the action.¹⁰

Access requires a Common Access Card or a non-CAC login.¹¹ First-time users without a CAC can register through the first-time-user option on the login page. Have every piece of data compiled before you start. The system does not always save partial submissions cleanly.

After You Submit

The request routes through an electronic approval chain. Your local Military Personnel Flight reviews the entries against your personnel record and DoD regulations. If the data holds up, the request moves to AFPC for final adjudication, and you will get status notifications through myFSS. Backlogs happen, which is another reason to file toward the outer edge of the window.

When AFPC approves the request, it generates your official separation orders, which authorize you to stop reporting for duty and begin final out-processing. You can download the finalized orders from myFSS or vMPF, then schedule remaining medical steps, arrange household goods shipment, and finish your out-processing checklist.

Reviewing Your Draft DD Form 214

Your DD Form 214 is built from data in your personnel record, and approval of DAF Form 100 sets that build in motion. For retirements, an AFPC technician contacts you during the first five days of the month using the personal email on your DD 214 worksheet. You then have until roughly the 25th of that month to review the worksheet and submit corrections.¹²

The worksheet is in vMPF, where you can view and flag errors. Corrections are sent to AFPC’s DD 214 processing team and updated daily until the document is finalized.¹² Check your dates of service, characterization of service, decorations, and separation code closely. Fixing a DD 214 after issue is far more cumbersome than catching an error in the draft window. Blocks 23 through 30 are not visible to you on the worksheet, so raise any concerns about that content directly with your MPF technician.

If the Orders Come Out Wrong

The standard vehicle for correcting an error in separation orders is AF Form 973, Request and Authorization for Change of Administrative Orders. Amendments, rescissions, and revocations are published in the same series as the original order.¹³ Correction requests can be submitted electronically through the virtual Personnel Center with supporting documentation, and AFPC will email you if a submission is incomplete.¹⁴

DD Form 214 corrections found after separation can also be submitted through vPC by attaching the form and supporting evidence.¹⁴ Do not sit on these. An incorrect DD 214 causes friction with VA benefits, civilian employment verification, and education benefits.

Verify Your Pay Before You File

Financial accuracy at this stage prevents a debt problem later. If you separate with an overpayment (miscalculated terminal leave, overstated travel entitlements, or a special pay that continued past eligibility), DFAS sends a demand notification. Accounts with no payment within 30 days of that letter are considered delinquent, and at 60 days DFAS reports the account to Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and Innovis as a collection account.¹⁵

Unresolved debts are referred to the Department of the Treasury, which can send them to a private collection agency whose fees can exceed 30 percent of the balance. Treasury can also offset the debt against a federal tax refund at 100 percent, against OPM annuity payments at 25 percent of monthly disposable income, or against Social Security payments at 15 percent.¹⁵ If you reenlist or are recalled, DFAS can refer the remaining balance, plus interest and fees, to your current finance office for involuntary salary offset.

Ask your finance office to run a final pay estimate early in the process, and verify leave balances and entitlement dates against what you entered on DAF Form 100. A two-day leave discrepancy caught before separation is a quick fix. Caught six months later, it becomes a credit report problem.

A Note for Officers

Officers do not use the same path. Commissioned officers hold appointments for an indefinite period, so separation is not automatic at the end of a service commitment. Rather than submitting DAF Form 100 directly, officers typically submit a Tender of Resignation in memorandum format through the chain of command via myFSS, including name, grade, Social Security Number, mailing address, the specific DAFI chapter and paragraph authorizing the resignation, and a signed recommendation letter from the unit commander.¹⁶ Voluntary resignation and involuntary discharge for officers are governed by DAFI 36-3211, Part 3.¹

1
U.S. Air Force. DAFI 36-3211 – Military Separations
2
U.S. Air Force. DAFI 36-3203 – Service Retirements
3
MyAirForceBenefits. DAF Transition Assistance Program (TAP)
4
Department of Defense. DoD Instruction 6040.46 – Separation History and Physical Examination
5
86th Force Support Squadron. SHPE Presentation
6
Luke Air Force Base. Finance Separation/Retirement Packet
7
U.S. Air Force. DAFI 36-3003 – Military Leave Program
8
Defense Travel Management Office. Joint Travel Regulations
9
Air Reserve Personnel Center. Active Guard Reserve Separations Guide
10
Joint Base Andrews Force Support Squadron. Career Development
11
U.S. Air Force. Applying for Age 60 Retirement in myFSS
12
U.S. Air Force. DD Form 214 Preparation and Separation Data Guide
13
Department of Defense. Administrative Orders
14
Air Reserve Personnel Center. Submitting Requests for Military Personnel Data Updates and Corrections
15
Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Failure to Pay a Debt
16
Headquarters RIO. Tender of Resignation (TOR)