How to Fill Out and Submit OPM Form SF-813: Leave and RIF Effects

SF-813 is the federal form your agency’s HR office uses to have a military records center verify that your active duty included a nonwartime campaign or expedition for which a badge or medal was authorized. It exists for one kind of person: a retired member of the armed forces now working as a federal civilian. Once the records center certifies your qualifying campaign dates, your agency can credit that time toward faster annual leave accrual and toward your standing in a reduction in force.

When You Actually Need the Form

The SF-813 has a narrow purpose. Your agency should use it only when your DD Form 214 does not already document your participation in a nonwartime campaign or expedition and the dates of that participation.¹ If your DD-214 shows the campaign badge or expeditionary medal along with the service dates, HR can credit that time without touching the SF-813.

Two boundaries worth noting up front. The form covers people retired from active military service who now work for a federal civilian agency. It does not cover Reserve or National Guard members who completed 20 or more years of qualifying service but are not yet receiving retired pay; a different verification process applies to them.¹

How to Fill Out the SF-813

The form has 11 numbered items divided between you and your HR office, plus a certification block the military records center completes when it returns the form. A fillable PDF is available from OPM, and your HR office can supply a copy.²

Items You Fill In

The fields that are your responsibility:¹

Item 1, name used during military service. Use the name that appears in your service records, not necessarily your current legal name.
Item 2, service number. Required only if you retired before 1970, when the military used service numbers instead of Social Security Numbers.
Item 3, Social Security Number.
Item 4, branch of service.
Item 5, date of military retirement.
Item 7, nonwartime campaigns and expeditions. List each campaign or expedition by name, with at least the month and year of participation.

Item 7 is where most forms get returned. Writing “Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal” or “USAF” is not enough. The records center needs the name of the actual operation, such as “Operation Just Cause” or “Kosovo,” with inclusive dates.

Items HR Fills In

Your agency completes the administrative side: Item 6 (date of request), Item 8 (any remarks from the requesting agency), Item 10 (requesting official’s name, phone, and email so the records center can call with questions), and Item 11 (requesting agency name and mailing address).

There is no employee signature on the SF-813. The only signature line belongs to the records center official who certifies the verified information when returning the form.¹

Where the Completed Form Goes

Where your HR office mails the form depends on your branch and when you retired.¹

National Personnel Records Center, 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. This is the default destination and handles all Coast Guard retirees.
Army: Human Resources Command, Veterans Inquiry Section, Dept. 420, 1600 Spearhead Div Ave, Fort Knox, KY 40122.
Navy: Navy Personnel Command (PERS-312A), 5720 Integrity Drive, Millington, TN 38055-3130.
Marine Corps: Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps, Personnel Management Support Branch (MMSB-10), 2008 Elliot Road, Quantico, VA 22134-5030.
Air Force: AFPC/DPSIDR, 550 C St. West, Suite 12, Randolph Air Force Base, TX 78150.

The form’s instructions include cutoff retirement dates that determine whether your branch’s records are still at the NPRC or have moved to the branch itself. Check the instruction block for the exact cutoff before mailing. HR should include a self-addressed return envelope so the certified form comes straight back to your personnel file.

What Happens After You Send It In

The records center reviews its databases, completes Item 9 (records center’s remarks), and signs the certification block confirming which campaigns you participated in and the dates. If the dates HR listed do not match the records, the center corrects them on the form before returning it.¹

Processing times vary. The Air Force Personnel Center has noted that requests routed through the NPRC can take 90 days or more, while requests handled directly by a service branch may be faster. There is no guaranteed turnaround. File early, ideally when you first enter federal civilian employment, so a delay does not hold up your leave rate or your retention standing.

How Verified Campaign Service Affects Your Leave

Federal employees earn annual leave at three rates based on total creditable service:³

Less than 3 years: 4 hours per pay period (13 days per year).
3 to 14 years: 6 hours per pay period (20 days per year).
15 or more years: 8 hours per pay period (26 days per year).

For military retirees, only specific service counts toward those thresholds. You get leave-accrual credit for active duty during a war declared by Congress, or during a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge was authorized. An exception applies if your military retirement was based on a combat-related disability, in which case all your active duty counts, not just the campaign periods.³

That limited credit rule is exactly why the SF-813 exists. A non-retired veteran gets credit for all active service automatically. A military retiree has to prove that specific time was spent in a qualifying campaign, because peacetime service does not count toward the leave rate. Once the records center certifies the campaign dates, your agency adjusts your service computation date, which can push you into a higher accrual tier.⁴

How Verified Campaign Service Affects RIF Standing

In a reduction in force, federal agencies rank competing employees partly by length of service. Under 5 U.S.C. 3502, a military retiree who is not covered by one of the preference-eligible exceptions receives credit only for active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge was authorized.⁵ Without verified campaign service, none of your military time counts toward your retention standing.

Retirees who fall under the exceptions in 5 U.S.C. 3501(a)(3), which include disability retirement from combat, fewer than 20 years of active service, and continuous federal employment since November 30, 1964, get credit for their entire active-duty career instead of just campaign periods.⁵ For everyone else, the SF-813 verification is the difference between years of military credit on the retention register and none.

Which Campaigns and Expeditions Qualify

OPM publishes a list of campaigns and expeditions that qualify for veterans’ preference and, by extension, for the leave-accrual and RIF credits the SF-813 verifies. Any Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal qualifies, whether or not the specific operation appears on OPM’s published list.⁶ Common qualifying operations include:

Global War on Terrorism (September 11, 2001, to present)
Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom (September 11, 2001, to present)
Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom (March 19, 2003, to present)
Kosovo (March 24, 1999, to present)
Bosnia, Operations Joint Endeavor, Joint Guard, and Joint Forge (November 20, 1995, onward)
Panama, Operation Just Cause (December 20, 1989, to January 31, 1990)
Grenada, Operation Urgent Fury (October 23 to November 21, 1983)
Somalia, Operations Restore Hope and United Shield (December 5, 1992, to March 31, 1995)

The full list, including older operations dating back to the late 1950s, is in Appendix A of OPM’s Vet Guide for HR Professionals.⁶ When filling out Item 7, match the campaign name as closely as possible to how the list phrases it.

If the Returned Form Is Wrong

If the records center returns the SF-813 with dates or campaigns you believe are wrong, start by having your HR office contact the records center directly. Errors sometimes come from incomplete records rather than a genuine dispute, and a call to the requesting official listed in Item 10 can clear up simple discrepancies.

For a serious correction, apply to your branch’s Board for Correction of Military Records using DD Form 149. This form lets you request a change to any document or entry in your military record that you believe is wrong or unjust. You identify the record that needs correction, attach supporting evidence such as separation documents, award orders, or deployment records, and explain what correction you want.⁷

The DD-149 instructions require that you exhaust all other administrative correction procedures first. If you discovered the error more than three years ago, explain the delay. Once the Board corrects the underlying record, your agency can resubmit the SF-813 or update your personnel file directly from the corrected documentation.⁷

1
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. SF 813 – Verification of a Military Retiree’s Service in NonWartime Campaigns or Expeditions
2
General Services Administration. Verification of a Military Retiree’s Service in Non-Wartime Campaigns or Expeditions
3
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Annual Leave
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 6303 – Annual Leave; Accrual
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 3502 – Order of Retention
6
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Vet Guide for HR Professionals
7
Executive Services Directorate (WHS). Application for Correction of Military Record Under the Provisions of Title 10 USC Section 1552