Separation Travel Pay Entitlements for Uniformed Personnel

Under regulations prescribed by the military services, travel allowances may be paid upon a serviceman's separation or release from active duty; the amount paid is not to exceed travel costs from his last duty station to his home of record or the place from which he was called or ordered to active duty. Joint Travel Regulations entitle military members to receive additional separation travel allowances for dependents, but the regulations allow payment for dependent travel only to places where they intend to reside. A military member can receive a travel allowance without regard to actual travel, but his or her family may not. An examination of separation mileage payments made during February 1977 at seven Air Force stations indicated that, for 30 percent of the payments, the future mailing address of the separating member was different and/or closer to the point of separation than the home of record or place from which the member was called to active duty. If mileage allowances had been paid according to the future mailing address, there was a potential for saving about $8,350 or $87 per case. Total potential Air Force savings were about $1.3 million annually. Unnecessary expenses might be avoided by paying separation mileage allowances according to the intended future residence of the member and by putting all mileage payments on an after-the-fact basis.