Who ya gonna call? The Army Service Center!
By Maj. Gen. Hope C. Rampy, Commanding General, Army Human Resources Command
With apologies to Ray Parker, Jr. and the Ghostbusters franchise, when there’s something strange or you need some help with your military records, who ya gonna call? The Army Service Center!
The Army Service Center (ASC) is here to answer numerous questions for our Army veteran and Retired Soldier community. Many of our customers seek help obtaining service records or with requesting changes to their records. This includes DD Forms 214 and 215, your Army Military Human Resource Record (AMHRR), and much more.
Our team stands ready to assist Soldiers, Retired Soldiers, and their family members in their efforts to receive or process entitlements and benefits. We can help obtain documents needed for VA Home Loans or aid those seeking information for VA claims. ASC can also help homeless veterans with timely information to assist with their circumstances.
For those veterans with the Army Reserve, the ASC team can help you with statements of retirement points (DA Form 5016) or with Military Buy Back to count toward federal civilian retirement. In fact, the ASC team is also an entry point to help screen Gray Area Retirement (GAR) retired pay applications for our Retired
Reserve population.
Speaking of GAR, the HRC team continues to listen to our retiree community to refine our processes. Such improvements include streamlining the non-regular retirement application process and participating in retirement planning events. Retirement pay for this group is not automatic—eligible retirees must apply between 9 months and 90 days before reaching eligibility age (usually age 60). HRC will send you a postcard approximately one year before you turn 60 to provide guidance on how to apply. That means we need your current address! Our team processes your application within 45-60 days of receipt before forwarding it to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) for final processing.
Application Requirements for non-regular retirement pay are:
- DD Form 108 – Application for Retired Pay Benefits
- DD Form 2656 – Data for Payment of Retired Personnel (signed and witnessed)
- Additional supporting documents
- Chronological Points Statement
- Notification of Eligibility (20-year) or (15-year) letter
- Promotion orders for the highest grade held
- Separation orders transferring you to the Retired Reserve or discharge orders
- Reserve Component Survivor Benefit Plan (RCSBP) Election Certificate
If you have a milestone life event after making your RCSBP election (for instance, marriage or the birth of a child), you will need to update your election within a year of the event.
To do so, contact a Retirement Services Officer (RSO) at https://soldierforlife.army.mil/About-Us/Contact-Your-RSO or submit a DD Form 2656-6 to usarmy.knox.hrc.mbx.rpmd-ord-sbp-regulatory-and-policy-team@army.mil.
We encourage you to email scanned non-regular retirement pay applications to our ASC team (usarmy.knox.hrc.mbx.tagd-ask-hrc@army.mil) to expedite processing.
When you’re in the gray area, we also strongly encourage you to keep your contact information up to date with HRC and DFAS and make sure all your supporting documents are uploaded in iPERMS. This will help you avoid any processing delays.
If you need assistance reviewing and submitting your non-regular retirement pay application—or help with any number of topics mentioned above—remember who ya gonna call? The Army Service Center!
The Army Service Center:
Call: 1-888-276-9472 (ARMYHRC)
Email: usarmy.knox.hrc.mbx.tagd-ask-hrc@army.mil
Top 5 Reasons Retired Soldiers call ASC:
1) Combat-Related Special Compensation
2) Retirement management
3) Gray Area Retirement Packet Assistance
4) Records Requests
5) Assistance with DD Form1343
Top 5 Reasons veterans call ASC:
1) Records requests
2) VA home loan
3) Verification of Reserve employment
4) Retirement management
5) Assistance with DD Form 214
