Retirement
Guest Post – How to Collect Important Documents When You’re Separating/Retiring
By CAPT(r) Nathan Almond, MC, USN
For personnel separating or retiring that wish to obtain documents from their service, below are some recommendations.
1. Get a copy of your Official Military Personnel File.
To get a copy of your military files such as fitness reports, SGLI elections, and other files from your career (besides your orders) go to BOL
https://www.bol.navy.mil/
Login with CAC
Click on ‘Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) – My Record’
Click on the ‘yes’ button
Click ‘download OMPF’ button
Wait for ‘save as’ folder to pop up as the zip file is downloaded and save as a zip file
That’s it! Now you have your OMPF files.
2. To get copies of all of your orders (besides IA ones), in NSIPS click ‘Employee Self Service’, then ‘Electronic Service Record’, then ‘view’, then ‘orders history’. You can then click on ‘select all’ and then ‘Print Selected Orders and Transfer Information Sheets’ to get a pdf of all your orders written in your career.
3. If you deployed IA, get a copy of your IA orders for future reference. In BOL click on
Navy-Marine Corps Mobilization Processing System (NMCMPS) – View IA/ADSW orders
Click the ‘show orders’ button, then click on the orders you want. You may have to click on the ‘popup blocker’ in the address bar and then again on the link that was blocked in order to get the file, depending on your computer settings, but you don’t have to change the settings, just click on the ‘popup blocker’ in the address bar in Chrome and then the website that comes up and your file will download.
4. Also I found helpful to get a history of my career assignments. In NSIPS click on ‘view professional history’, then ‘history of assignments’, then ‘print form’ to get a pdf list of your assignments. Again, you may have to click on the ‘popup blocker’ in the address bar in Chrome followed by the address that was trying to download the file, but you should be able to obtain the pdf list.
5. I think getting the current pdf of your ODC, OSR, PSR is also helpful but CAPT Schofer has already outlined how to do that in the Promo Prep document.
How retirement plans for dozens of Navy officers were upended by a new law
I you want to retire as an O4, you now have to stay in 3 years instead of 2:
No, a SECDEF Memo Did Not Change the Time-in-Grade Retirement Requirements
There has been a SECDEF memo flying around the interwebs that is being misinterpreted. People think it might let them retire at the 2-year mark as an O5 or O6, but there has been no change to current policy (which requires 3 years). Here is the response from PERS:
“Some of you have been fielding queries about the attached memo so wanted to address this for everyone. The memo does delegate authority to the Service Secretaries to reduce time in grade requirements. However, this delegation does not equate to Service policy. We are still awaiting on how the Navy will implement any changes in time in grade requirements.
So for now, please inform any folks inquiring about it that no formal Navy policy has been promulgated based on the new authority. And current policy stands.”
I did not attach the memo because this guy is not in the habit of posting SECDEF memos on a public blog.
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