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I have a soldier that ETS was late January, he came back from a rotation in October and immediately began SFL Tap. He went to CIF to begin clearing and realized most of his gear was in the personal container that was still in Europe. He let me know and I reached out to my SFC to see what we can do so he can continue out processing. They mentioned doing a proxy clear and told me to enjoy my leave and don’t worry about it. I came back off of leave and asked my SFC where we were at with this soldier and he tells me since the soldier is still in the area he will wait until the container to come back to continue out processing. Fast forward to February and the CSM comes into our office telling as to why this soldier is not cleared and why wasn’t a proxy done. My SFC tried to pin it on me and say I should have done a proxy. I told him he told me enjoy my leave and he was going to deal with it. Now they’re trying to have him do an involuntary extension. He was not getting paid once his ETS date went by but he was technically still in the military due to not properly outprocessing, would he be able to receive back pay for this time? Is there anything we can do to help him?
ETS/EAS
Military Pay
Posted 1 d ago
Responses: 2
The situation is a goat rope and there will probably be a lot of yelling going on, but here are the facts concerning the Soldier.
I’m not sure who informed you that he was still technically in the military because he didn’t properly out-process, but they are incorrect. If he ETSed, then he has finished his contract and is not on active duty anymore, so a contract extension isn’t even possible (unless your CSM & SFC are looking to do some questionable things…).
Even though an extension isn’t possible (again, the Soldier has already ETSed), as an FYI, before he ETSed he probably could have voluntarily extended for up to three months due to a “pending personnel action” (DA Pam 601-280*, para 5-5g) . However, generally the only reasons a Soldier can be involuntarily extended beyond their ETS are when (see AR 635-200*, Paras 1-22 through 1-25):
• The Soldier has lost time that needs to be made up (i.e., confinement, AWOL, etc.);
• An investigation with view to trial by court-martial is initiated on the Soldier, or they are awaiting trial or the results of a trial;
• The Soldier is enroute to the United States or to a territory of origin.
There are a few special situations as well (e.g., the Soldier is in the hospital, needs medical care, and is unable to sign an extension request), but “extend for clearing isn’t one of them”.
At this point, your unit can proxy clear the ‘check the box’ places (ACS, MWR, etc.) to ensure he doesn’t have a debt anywhere and someone needs to have a discussion with CIF, explain the circumstances surrounding the turn-in of his gear and see how they want to handle it.
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* AR 635-200, "Active Duty Enlisted Administrative Separations" - https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN40515-AR_635-200-000-WEB-1.pdf
* Smartbook DA Pam 601-280, “Army Retention Program Procedures” - https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2025/10/01/f3e74eaf/smartbook-da-pam-601-280-effective-1-oct-2025.pdf
I’m not sure who informed you that he was still technically in the military because he didn’t properly out-process, but they are incorrect. If he ETSed, then he has finished his contract and is not on active duty anymore, so a contract extension isn’t even possible (unless your CSM & SFC are looking to do some questionable things…).
Even though an extension isn’t possible (again, the Soldier has already ETSed), as an FYI, before he ETSed he probably could have voluntarily extended for up to three months due to a “pending personnel action” (DA Pam 601-280*, para 5-5g) . However, generally the only reasons a Soldier can be involuntarily extended beyond their ETS are when (see AR 635-200*, Paras 1-22 through 1-25):
• The Soldier has lost time that needs to be made up (i.e., confinement, AWOL, etc.);
• An investigation with view to trial by court-martial is initiated on the Soldier, or they are awaiting trial or the results of a trial;
• The Soldier is enroute to the United States or to a territory of origin.
There are a few special situations as well (e.g., the Soldier is in the hospital, needs medical care, and is unable to sign an extension request), but “extend for clearing isn’t one of them”.
At this point, your unit can proxy clear the ‘check the box’ places (ACS, MWR, etc.) to ensure he doesn’t have a debt anywhere and someone needs to have a discussion with CIF, explain the circumstances surrounding the turn-in of his gear and see how they want to handle it.
---------------------------------------------------------
* AR 635-200, "Active Duty Enlisted Administrative Separations" - https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN40515-AR_635-200-000-WEB-1.pdf
* Smartbook DA Pam 601-280, “Army Retention Program Procedures” - https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2025/10/01/f3e74eaf/smartbook-da-pam-601-280-effective-1-oct-2025.pdf
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This is one of the reasons I am glad I am retired. You are never truly on leave and without responsibilities as a leader. While none of this is your fault and your sr leadership absolutely should have picked up the slack, please learn here that leadership is 24/7 regardless what the leave form says. Fair absolutely not, reality, yes.
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