Are you prepared for your Active Duty Final Pay and first Retired Pay to be short?

Be prepared financially for your Final Active Duty Pay to be 2-4 Weeks later than normal pay and be prepared for it to be unexplainably less than expected. When you inquire, you will be told that audit/processing is ongoing and you "should" get "something" in about 2 months.

Additionally, if you have no dependents and/or elect not to do SBP, they will take it out the first month automatically and "should" reimburse you your next pay period.

I do not remember this level of detail being explained in any briefing I received, but this has been my experience. Just wanted all folks coming up on retirement to be aware so you are better able to prepare yourselves financially.