Retirement Process for Air Force (PDBR)

A couple of pointers I have learned through this process:

* After you receive your letter from the Air Force stating that the directive has been sent to change your records, I highly advise keeping an eye on milconnect daily for your new orders and DD-214 in DPRIS. These will show up much faster then USPS and all you have to do is print them and head to the closest RAPIDS office to get your ID.
* Fax or Mail your new orders, DD-214 and DD-2656 to DFAS. This should shorten the time you are waiting for retirement pay/back pay if you are to receive it. Air Force states they are forwarding all info to DFAS. My orders and DD-214 have been done for almost 4 weeks and DFAS has not received anything. DFAS told me to mail or fax to the following address:

DFAS Retired Pay
8899 E 56th St
Indianapolis, IN 46249

Fax: 800-469-6559
 
Contacted DFAS yesterday. They have received my orders. Told me to call back in 30-45 days.
 
AF Retirees Update!

Contacted DFAS for a follow up this morning regarding my retirement account establishment. They sent an email request up to the people handling the PDBR retirements and about 30 min later I got a call from Mr. Brown. Very nice guy trying to help us all out. He stated the AF is different then the other branches in that the Air Force requires DFAS to establish retirement accounts solely on the documentation sent by the Air Force. All the orders and other pertinent docs I sent in to be proactive did no good.

Mr. Brown stated he has emailed AFPC twice regarding the orders and DD214 and has heard nothing back. So all my documentation (order, DD214, etc.) is available at AFPC (over 60 days ago) but nobody has sent anything to DFAS.

So thats where I am at right now. I have had AFPC send an email the retirements to find out was is going on.
 
With frustrations and lack of information/communication regarding the post-PDBR process for retiring Air Force members I have been pushing the board for more information on the process and who to contact for followup: Here is the direct quote from the board, emailed to me this morning, on how the process works:

"To help you understand how the process works, the role of the PDBR is to review Physical Evaluation Board findings for accuracy and render a recommendation to the military department. Once the recommendation is made, the PDBR has no further role in processing applications. The military department may accept of decline to accept the recommendation of the PDBR. A recommendation to correct a record to disability retirement once accepted is forwarded the SBP office to obtain an SBP election. Once obtained, that is the extent of the SBP office’s knowledge or involvement in processing of the application. Once the SBP election is obtained a Directive is prepared and signed which directs the appropriate offices at the Air Force Personnel Center to correct the military records. Once the Secretary of the Air Force’s designee signs the directive a copy is provided to the individual involved and to the offices at the Air Force Personnel Center responsible for making corrections. The office of the Physical Evaluation Board is required to revoke the separation orders and publish retirement orders. The Retirement office is required to publish a revised DD Form 214. Once those corrections are made a copy the corrected documents are furnished to the applicant, to DFAS and to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Once the applicant receives a copy of the DD Form 214 a retired ID card may be obtained at the nearest ID card facility. Be advised that the offices responsible for making these corrections are currently working a backlog of corrections, in addition to their current workload and it may take up to 30-60 days for the corrective documents to be prepared. Rest assured efforts are being made however, to complete these actions as quickly as
 
Tried to call AFPC tonight for an update. I got nowhere with the person on the phone. I had more info then him which isn't saying much. He said my cause would have to be forward up for a review. PDBR hasn't done anything with my case since I did my PBR in August. I get the run around with them. I dont know what else to do at this point. Anyone have any advice?
 
Tried to call AFPC tonight for an update. I got nowhere with the person on the phone. I had more info then him which isn't saying much. He said my cause would have to be forward up for a review. PDBR hasn't done anything with my case since I did my PBR in August. I get the run around with them. I dont know what else to do at this point. Anyone have any advice?

Did you receive the directive ordering the changes to your record yet? This usually comes 2-3 months after the SBP brief. This is what gets sent to the PEB office to rescind your orders and start the process of creating new orders.

Where was your SBP briefing done? Was it done on base or through email/phone with SBP office in San Antonio?
 
Did you receive the directive ordering the changes to your record yet? This usually comes 2-3 months after the SBP brief. This is what gets sent to the PEB office to rescind your orders and start the process of creating new orders.

Where was your SBP briefing done? Was it done on base or through email/phone with SBP office in San Antonio?
 
I did not get the detective yet. I did the SBP brief through the the phone/email through the SBP office in San Antonio. They forwarded that info on 11 Aug 18.
 
Perci75, my fingers are crossed for you. I am still waiting for my new orders and DD214. My SBP was done the first week of June, I received a directive and email for it, but still nothing. So frustrating! Hearing this about DFAS is so discouraging, especially with email, fax, and scanning so readily available. I just don’t understand.
 
I did not get the detective yet. I did the SBP brief through the the phone/email through the SBP office in San Antonio. They forwarded that info on 11 Aug 18.

Im sure you have already emailed the board regarding this and got their form response? If the SBP is done the it is in the boards hands now to create the directive. They will then send a copy to you as well as AFPC to have your records corrected.
 
So still getting the run-around with AFPC. Actually had someone call me from AFPC retirements yesterday afternoon and I explained to them my situation. They were completely lost and kept trying to push me back to the PDBR. I stated I am done with the board I have my new DD214, retirement orders, etc and just need AFPC to send this info to DFAS so my retirement account can be established. They said, thats not how it works? So they ended up taking Mr. Browns (DFAS retirements) contact info and said they will contact him regarding this. AFPC then said they would call me back.
 
Alright... Another update from my side over the last week. Still no luck between AFPC and the PDBR. Both are pointing fingers at each other regarding who is suppose to send my orders to DFAS. Keep in mind my orders, DD214 were done and available for me to download from DPRIS the beginning of September.

A matter of fact, the boards last email to me this week stated,

"The PDBR doesn't have anything to do with DFAS. We provided you with your retirement Orders and DD214 as a courtesy. In those documents provided, please read them and contact the AF Total Force Center or DFAS. The job of the PDBR is to recommend a decision to the service designated decision authority (DDA)

Mr. ****** this is the FINAL e-mail we will respond to as we DO NOT have any control over DFAS.

Respectfully

Physical Disability Board of Review"

Well I guess the board is done with me.

Contact AFPC again and a nice lady actually called me back stating she is in contact with the board and it is the boards responsibility to send the docs to DFAS. I may have started laughing at this point, but she said the board would supposedly contact her when my orders were sent to DFAS. I forwarded her the above response I got from the board and have heard nothing back.

Sooooo time to file an IG complaint, because quite frankly this is getting ridiculous as nobody seems to have a clue on who is supposed to send retirement orders to DFAS. AFPC IG office contacted me today. He stated he had left two messages for Mr. Brown at DFAS, but has not heard back and he is currently working with the disability folks to see how my orders were sent to DFAS. Good luck sir! Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.
 
Update: Received hard copies of orders/DD214 today in the mail. This was after, according to the board had to "re-send" them.
 
Alright... Another update from my side over the last week. Still no luck between AFPC and the PDBR. Both are pointing fingers at each other regarding who is suppose to send my orders to DFAS. Keep in mind my orders, DD214 were done and available for me to download from DPRIS the beginning of September.

A matter of fact, the boards last email to me this week stated,

"The PDBR doesn't have anything to do with DFAS. We provided you with your retirement Orders and DD214 as a courtesy. In those documents provided, please read them and contact the AF Total Force Center or DFAS. The job of the PDBR is to recommend a decision to the service designated decision authority (DDA)

Mr. ****** this is the FINAL e-mail we will respond to as we DO NOT have any control over DFAS.

Respectfully

Physical Disability Board of Review"

Well I guess the board is done with me.

Contact AFPC again and a nice lady actually called me back stating she is in contact with the board and it is the boards responsibility to send the docs to DFAS. I may have started laughing at this point, but she said the board would supposedly contact her when my orders were sent to DFAS. I forwarded her the above response I got from the board and have heard nothing back.

Sooooo time to file an IG complaint, because quite frankly this is getting ridiculous as nobody seems to have a clue on who is supposed to send retirement orders to DFAS. AFPC IG office contacted me today. He stated he had left two messages for Mr. Brown at DFAS, but has not heard back and he is currently working with the disability folks to see how my orders were sent to DFAS. Good luck sir! Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.

WOW! I have no words :-O
 
My DD214 and orders are still not in milconnect. I tried calling AFPC (retirements section) and they said that I have to contact the board. I tried calling the board and they said that they are done with their portion and I need to contact AFPC (retirements section). So I am stuck in a loop as well but you are atleast further along than me because you got your DD214 and were already able to get an ID.
 
Really don't know what is going on. Hopefully IG can make some headway.
 
FINALLY! My DD214 and Retirement orders are finally in milconnect. Now we will see how long until the DFAS portion gets worked but due to my VA rating I wont get any retired pay anyway so they can take as long as needed I suppose...... But YAY! I am retired! (back dated to 2004...... so now I can shop at the BX in 2005!)
 
Well. Just called DFAS and they told me they had received everything they needed from the PDBR on 11/14. Funny seeing how the PDBR has nothing to do with DFAS? DFAS said call back next week to verify when my account will be set up.
 
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