Group Meeting Summaries

Guest Speaker on Gray Area Retirement - Col Maurleen Cobb, Chief, Reserve Retirement Counseling Cell (RRCC)

Col Cobb gave us an outstanding overview of the RRCC, covering the history of its inception (established under Maj Gen Jennie Johnson), mission, structure and the support it provides to AF guard and reserve retirees. She indicated on the first day the RRCC stood up they had 159 contacts.  Her team is comprised of 15 members, 6 of which are RSO certified, working remotely from numerous locations across the US, from CA to PA. She is also on a board that meets monthly and includes members from the Army and Navy groups that handle Guard/Reserve retirement processing for their Service so they share information. Gray Area Retirees (GARs) can schedule appointments (90 minutes long) with her team to go over their DD Fm 2656, review information specific to their retirement, etc. The GARs can even send them pictures of their 2656 in advance to go over during the appointment. They also follow issues GARs are having with myFSS and typically report bugs that crop up at least 3 times/wk to the folks who manage myFSS. As of 1 July this fiscal year the RRCC has handled 20k interactions and ARPC typically processes 20k-40k retirements annually. Col Cobb indicated GARs should use the physical 2656 form vs the Form Wizard (to avoid issues) and RAOs should ensure folks are using the most current version of the Fm 2656. I asked Col Cobb if the AF was considering resuming letters to GARs approaching retirement to provide information on the process and she indicated a “DFAS Gray Area Project” had been established to work this issue, which would cover GARs from ALL Services and likely direct them to contact their specific Service.  I have e-mailed some of my DFAS contacts asking if they could provide me with a POC in DFAS Gray Area Project group I can communicate with regarding their efforts. Here is the link to the RRCC Facebook page: (3) Facebook

-  AF Retiree Council Meeting

  The AF Retiree Council meeting was held the week of 17 Aug and Buckley SFB RAO submitted 7 issue papers for consideration.  Several of the Council Area Reps (Michael Hinman, Rick Chavez and Christina Randel?) gave us some updates on issues discussed at the meeting.  Mike indicated the addition of an At Large position for a Guard/Reserve expert was approved and he has discussed this position with both Maj Gen April Vogel and Brig Gen Murray Hansen, who are both considering it. Rick went over discussions concerning NEATS card issues for various RAOs and documentation being approved to provide some standardization of that process. I asked about a letter from the current CSAF regarding RAOs and their support to retirees and the reps indicated the plan was for Rhys to draft up a new letter once details were resolved regarding updates to the RAO AFI, etc. and then send that up with the “minutes” from the meeting that will go to CSAF. (Did I get this right?) All the Council reps seemed to agree this was probably the most productive Council meeting they had attended and praised Chief Bass’ “get it done” approach and interest in the AF establishing a concept similar to the Army’s “Soldier for Life” for concept. There was some discussion regarding the desire for the AF Retiree Council to establish websites similar to those already in use by the Navy and Army where minutes and other information is posted and available to all.

-  AF Retiree Data from DMDC

  I reviewed that Rhys notified everyone in Jul that she had access to AF retiree data from DMDC.  RAOs just need to provide her with the 3-digit zip codes for their AOR to get the data.  I received our initial pull of data for AF retirees in CO and WY in July.  The main difference from RAF data, other than only containing AF retirees, is that e-mails and phone numbers for most retirees were included.  Mary Matthews at Randolph AFB indicated they had used some of the e-mails in the data to send mass e-mails and gotten a lot of bounce backs due to invalid e-mail addresses.  My understanding is we will get this data quarterly (I believe Rhys will provide it to us automatically as that is what we requested but not sure about other RAOs).  Several other RAOs mentioned they have received DMDC data for their AOR as well and expressed how useful it is.

  On 14 Sep Rhys informed me DMDC went to another reporting system, so every standing report (such as ours) requires a new agreement. The AF agreement is currently with AFPC and hopefully it will be signed soon. We will not be able to get another report until it is signed and reviewed by DMDC.

    I submitted an issue paper to the AF Retiree Council requesting a DoD level agreement with DMDC so RAOs can receive data on retirees from all Services. Mike Hinman mentioned the Retiree Council discussed this.

-  DFAS SmartDoc Pushes

On 27 July DFAS sent a SmartDoc push for us regarding our RAD, which reached ~57k retirees. I still find this the most effective way to communicate with the majority of our customers.  I asked if any other RAOs had used this method to advertise their RAD and no one had.  Apparently DFAS is aware most RAOs don’t have websites, so they are willing to continue doing pushes as they have been for the near future.

-  Maintaining Your Own RAO website

  Apparently at the Retiree Council meeting Chief Bass asked if we would discuss this topic during one of our meetings.  Our website is included as part of the overall Buckley SFB website and when I started in 2017 it was maintained by Public Affairs (PA). This was not ideal as I had to rely on PA whenever I wanted a change or update made and it was typically a slow process.  We asked PA what was required for someone to obtain system administrator privileges for the site and were told the person needed to successfully complete a list of online courses. On of our computer savvy volunteers, Mac, agreed to do this and completed the requirements so now he can make any changes we want to the site. Mac discussed the process he went through to get the required privileges.

Mac mentioned we are also looking into the possibility of setting up an RAO website completely separate from the Buckley SFB website, and outside of the .mil domain, similar to the Minneapolis Navy RAO website. Personally, I think this is the nicest RAO website I’ve seen, and we’d like to move in that direction.  If you’d like to check it out here is the link: Navy Retired Activities Office - Supporting Retired Sailors in Minneapolis

On the subject of websites, as mentioned earlier, we’d also like to see a dedicated website for AF Retiree Council and submitted another issue paper to the Council on that subject.  We’d like to see something similar to what the Army and Navy Retiree Councils already have.  You can check those out at the links below.

            https://soldierforlife.army.mil/Army-Retirement/Post-Retirement/CSA-Retired-Soldier-Council

            https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Support-Services/Culture-Resilience/Retired-Activities/Navy-Marine-Corps-Retiree-Council/

-  RAD Recaps

  I mentioned we held our RAD on Saturday, 19 Sep at the Leadership Development Center (LDC) on base from 0800-1230 (of course retirees were showing up by 0730).  We had about 50 different organizations attend, provided breakfast, lunch and snack items, had a band and gave away door prizes. 77% of the vendors that submitted surveys rated the event as “Excellent” for meeting potential clients and handing out information - all others rated it “Good”.  According to our sign-in sheets ~470 retirees/surviving spouses attended. Christina Randel (?) mentioned issues they had with their recent RAD and plans on how to change that in the future. (feel free to provide details Christina, sorry I couldn’t capture everything).

  I mentioned we are currently talking with a local school district that would like to host our RAD next year at their new event center off base. Not only will they provide the venue for free, they have also offered to provide lunch for the retirees at no cost. Our office will be taking a tour of the facility later this year, when it is completed, to assess suitability for a RAD. I am very excited about this opportunity for a variety of reasons. First, we don’t need to create an Entry Access List (EAL) to get vendors without a military ID on base. Second, we won’t have to find funding to purchase food and drinks and get that to the LDC. Most importantly, since the event center is off base, any veteran will be able to attend and get the benefit of all the organizations attending have to offer, not just those with base access. I believe this has the potential to significantly increase our attendance numbers.

-  Use of AI to Enhance RAO Operations

I discussed that we have several volunteers with experience using various AI tools (ChatGPT, Google Gemini, etc.) and they have formed a working group to look into how we might leverage some of these tools to enhance operations.  For example, the potential to help with training for new volunteers, help provide quicker and more complete responses to customer inquiries, quickly search our FAQ paper library for specific data, etc. No other RAOs mentioned they were doing anything specific with AI so we’ll provide updates on our progress to see if we come up with any tools of use to other RAOs. 

- Area IV Council Rep Discussions with DFAS

  I didn’t discuss this during our meeting as we had already run 1:20, but Maj Joanne Stanton, Area IV Council Rep, had the chance to speak with DFAS reps during the conference so I’m passing on a few things she relayed to me. One thing they discussed is the virtual quarterly meetings DFAS holds for partners such as RAOs. These meetings could be useful in helping RAOs understand the improvements DFAS is making, and they welcome any interested RAOs to attend. Do any of you get the e-mail notifications on these meetings, and have you participated in any?  If so, thoughts?  DFAS indicated they would also be willing to do some refresher training for RAOs on AskDFAS for RAOs during these meetings. Do you think that would be useful? The next DFAS quarterly meeting is in October, so if you’re interested, we would be happy to provide your contact info to Joanne’s DFAS POC so you will get an invite.

If you’re not aware, DFAS also sends a quarterly newsletter to partners such as RAOs. I know I receive these, are all of you getting them as well?  Again, if you’re not, you can let us know and we’ll reach out to DFAS to get you added. 

So, those are the main things I recall from our meeting.  With everything we discussed I’m sure I didn’t capture all the details.  If I missed, or misrepresented, anything you feel is noteworthy please let me, and the group, know.  Also, if you have any general comments on the meeting please e-mail me. 

  Thanks again for your participation.  Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, comments or changes you would like to see made regarding these periodic meetings.  We’re doing these for all of us so if they’re missing the mark please speak up.  I’ll be back in touch with details for our next meeting in November.

v/r,

Steve

Steve Young

Lt Col, USAF, Ret

Director, Buckley SFB RAO

All,

  I’d like to thank everyone who was able to participate in our 17th meeting on Monday, 13 Jul. We only had about 9 total folks, in addition to Mac and I, participating so a very low turnout. Hopefully you find the information in these meeting summaries useful.

  Below are some of the things we went over today. 

Update on RAO issues Chief Bass is helping with - SmartDoc, CSAF Letter, DMDC retiree data

- No new info on DFAS plans for changes to the SmartDoc push process. I know DFAS is doing them for RAOs as we submitted our request for the 2026 RAD and the push is supposed to go out around 26 Jul.

- Rhys notified everyone on 8 Jul that she is now taking requests for DMDC retiree data and you just need to provide her with the 3-digit zip codes for your area to get the data.  I submitted my request to her on 8 Jul and got the data in an Excel spreadsheet from her right away. My understanding is she will get new data once a quarter.  I am raising the issue of a DoD level agreement (so Services can share retiree data) with the Council for their August meeting.

- The Chief hasn’t given me any update on the issue of a CSAF letter to MAJCOMs discussing the importance of retirees and RAOs with the Chief.  It has been 8 months since we discussed this with her during the Oct meeting she attended.

Topics for Today

-  AF Retiree Council Meeting

  The next AF Retiree Council meeting will be in person and is still planned for the week of 17 Aug. I will be providing updated issue papers to our Area rep. Some are: addition of AF Guard/Reserve “At Large” position on the AF Retiree Council; Processing of Gray Area Retirement packages; having DMDC provide RAOs data on retirees from all Services in their AOR, not just AF retirees; creating an AF Retiree Council website, formally documenting meeting outcomes, submissions to CSAF and any CSAF responses and making the data available on a Council website; establishing a recognition program for RAOs as a whole; ensuring Council Area Reps receive a consolidation of the “Other Accomplishments” section of RAO annual reports each year to disseminate to RAOs.

-  Update on virtual social security and Medicare briefings

  We continue to have social security and Medicare briefings on alternate months and typically have about 20 folks attending.  All the Medicare briefs have been virtual while we had an in-person SS brief on 25 Mar with another one scheduled for 16 Jul.  The in-person presentations consist of an opening brief followed by ~3 hours of one-on-one time to work with retirees on my SS Accounts, questions, etc.  At the first in-person brief there were 3 SS reps and there are two planned for the second one.  We use a “registration” link for all the presentations and for virtual briefs we cut off the number of attendees at about 20-25 to allow question time.

-  Adding an “At Large” Air Guard/Reserve position to the AF Retiree Council

  I submitted this idea for the 2025 Council, but the meeting was canceled. In preparation for the Aug 2026 meeting, I’ve been working with Mike Hinman and Vincent Acquaviva (Council Reps). I had them review my issue paper and then gave a copy to Mike, who provided it to Lt Gen Roberson. Lt Gen Roberson has put the proposed addition of council members on the meeting agenda so the council can discuss it along with any other proposed additions that come forward. (see next entry).  Mike has told him he has some candidates in mind, should the council approve the addition. BGen Murray Hansen is aware of the potential opportunity and may be interested if invited. Mike will see Maj Gen Vogel at the NGAUS Conference the week after the council meeting and hopes to approach her about the potential opportunity as well. 

-  Adding an “At Large” Surviving Spouse/Dependent position to the AF Retiree Council

  On 19 June Christina Randel from the RAO in Germany brought up the idea of adding a Surviving Spouse/Dependent “At Large” position to the Retiree Council.  She provided some great rationale for doing so.   I told her I agreed it was an excellent idea and encouraged her to submit an issue paper to the Council, as I did for the Air Guard and Reserve addition.  After getting Christina’s e-mail I started doing some research on the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) Surviving Spouse resources – Surviving Spouse Liaisons (SSLs) at various MOAA chapters, the MOAA Surviving Spouse Advocacy Council, etc. I’ve since talked to SSLs in CO, NH and AZ, learning more about the position and seeing if anyone would be interested in such a position on the Council if it were to get approved. The woman from Luke AFB I communicated with has been appointed to be the Arizona MOAA state representative for all of the surviving spouses and still holds her position as the Liaison for Luke Chapter MOAA.  The MOAA Chapter at Luke AFB has what I believe is an outstanding website related to Surviving Spouse information and resources and I encourage you to check it out: Luke Chapter MOAA - Surviving-Spouse-Program Christina mentions she gets great support from her base leadership and believes her boss may submit her for this At Large position, assuming it gets approved.

-  DoD Actuary Reports

Since we lost access to the Retiree Address Finder (RAF) database I have often used the DoD Actuary sites “Statistical Report on the Military Retirement System” to get data on the number of retirees by state (broken out by Service), the amount of money military pensions bring in to each state (broken out by Service) and other useful info.  That site has been re-labeled as a Dept of War site with all those reports removed and no longer available. I talked to Rhys about this, sent her a copy of an old report and asked if she knew somewhere they might still be available.  She was going to reach out to some contacts to ask that question, but I have no update.

-  Need for an AF Retiree Council Website

I think the AF needs a website where folks can find information about the AF Retiree Council (like the Army and Navy have), as well as formal documentation of each Council meeting and any responses from the AF Staff on Council recommendations.  As far as I can tell, even the little info that used to be available on the old AF Retiree website is gone with the transition to the new site: https://www.afpc.af.mil/Retirees/

You can check out the Army and Navy Council sites below:

CSA Retired Soldier Council | Soldier for Life

Navy & Marine Corps Retiree Council

Again, if you want to have your RAD advertised on the AFPC Retiree website, you need to fill out and e-mail the “Retiree Appreciation Day Announcement/Worksheet” to afpc.retiree@us.af.mil They only show five on the site right now.

-  RAO Mass E-mail Issues

On 11 Jun Sally Uebelacker shared an e-mail with me about the RAO at Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station having the same issue of not being able to send mass e-mail mailings.  I mentioned to her that we used to have the same issue but now we use an app to communicate with the ~2500 folks on our retiree distro list. We initially started with MailChimp, which we paid out of our own pocket as the base couldn’t accommodate their billing method.  We recently changed over to ZoHo, which costs ~$285/yr, but the base pays for it.  Both apps provide good analytics and allow us to reach all 2500 customers with a single e-mail.  I just want to make sure you are aware there are various options out there to address this issue.

So, those are the main things I recall from our meeting.  If I missed, or misrepresented, anything you feel is noteworthy please let me know.  Also, if you have any general comments on the meeting please e-mail me.  As I mentioned during our meeting, if anyone would like copies of the AF Retiree Issue papers I put together for the Aug meeting just let me know and I’ll send you a copy.

  Thanks again for your participation.  Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, comments or changes you would like to see made regarding these periodic meetings.  We’re doing these for all of us so if they’re missing the mark please speak up.  I’ll be back in touch with details for our next meeting in September.

v/r,

Steve

Steve Young

Lt Col, USAF, Ret

Director, Buckley SFB RAO

All,

  I’d like to thank everyone who was able to participate in our 16th meeting on Wednesday, 13 May. We had about 17 total folks participating. I apologize for talking too much and taking the meeting to over an hour - my bad. Hopefully you find the information in these meeting summaries useful.

  Below are some of the things we went over today. 

-  Update on RAO issues Chief Bass is helping with - SmartDoc, CSAF Letter, DMDC retiree data

- The Chief  has had several virtual meetings with DFAS to discuss SmartDoc push policy (16 Dec (?), 16 Mar and 13 Apr). I have made inputs regarding several e-mails from DFAS to the Chief and on 13 Apr DFAS sent the Chief a brief on their proposed process for review/comment (1 May suspense to them). The Chief requested Joanne Stanton, Rhy Michael and I provided a consolidated review. I sent you all a summary of our recommendations and we provided our input to the Chief on 24 Apr. Chief Bass sent her input to DFAS on 1 May - it consisted of a summary and four pages of detailed notes on the DFAS briefing slides. During a phone call on 30 Apr the Chief asked what I felt was the minimum acceptable SmartDoc support from DFAS.  I indicated one push per year for any RAO requesting one, with the “static” text DFAS is shooting for, so no RAD details. That at least gives every RAO the capability to get one e-mail a year to every retiree/annuitant in their state, with a valid e-mail address on file with DFAS, to provide info on what they do, their contact info, their website address (if applicable), a request for volunteers, where to get info on the RAD that year, etc. For us in CO, that means an e-mail that reaches ~50k retirees/annuitants.

- Rhys indicates the finalized agreement with DMDC is “in their queue” to get into their new agreement system, so hopefully that will happen soon, and we can then get access to the AF only retiree data. Incredibly enough, this has been 4 years in the making. Once this AF piece is completed, I believe we should raise the issue of a DoD level agreement (so Services can share retiree data) with the Chief again.

- On 13 Apr I brought up the issue of a CSAF letter to MAJCOMs discussing the importance of retirees and RAOs with the Chief.  It had been 6 months since we discussed this with her during the Oct meeting she attended so I refreshed her memory on what had been done.  She asked Rhys Michael for the new letter she had drafted and provided to Lt Gen Roberson earlier.  The Chief still believes the new CSAF will sign such a letter.

Topics for Today

-  AF Retiree Council Meeting

  I’m told the next AF Retiree Council meeting will be in person and is planned for the week of 17 Aug.

-  Future of AF Retiree Services Program

As you all know, funding for Rhys Michael’s position was eliminated months ago when she was detailed to DC for several months. Since then, it seems like the AF Retiree Services Program has been in a state of flux, with an uncertain future. My understanding is that Chief Bass has engaged with AFPC on this issue and, at this time, three Courses of Action (COAs) are being developed to present to AFPC leadership. It will be interesting to see what COAs are developed.

-  Volunteer Appreciation Month

April was Volunteer Appreciation month, and I expect some of you made submissions for base recognition.  Here at Buckley SFB, The Space Base Delta 2/CC presented our RAO Volunteer of the Year a certificate and appreciation letter signed by the AF Retiree Council Co-Chairs. Our RAO received the Buckley SFB Annual Volunteer Award - Large Group Category, and one of our volunteers received the Air Force Volunteer Excellence Award, authorized by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. This prestigious award recognizes federal civilians, family members, and retirees for sustained, long-term, and consequential volunteer service that directly supports military families or the local community. We’ve had 3 volunteers receive this award to date.

-  DoD Actuary Reports

Since we lost access to the Retiree Address Finder (RAF) database I have often used the DoD Actuary sites “Statistical Report on the Military Retirement System” to get data on the number of retirees by state (broken out by Service), the amount of money military pensions bring in to each state (broken out by Service) and other useful info.  When I went to the site recently, I found the site re-labeled as a Dept of War site with all those reports removed and no longer available. I talked to Rhys about this, sent her a copy of an old report and asked if she knew somewhere they might still be available.  She is reaching out to some contacts to ask that question.

-  Elderly Fraud & Scam Issues

Chief Given, Beale AFB RAO, took a few minutes to talk about a call he received from an 86-year-old widow whose bank account had been hacked so she needed to change the account with DFAS.  Her social security payments also weren’t being received.  She did not own a computer or know how to use one. He talked about folks to contact regarding calls like this.

-  NEATS Card Update

Our first volunteer to start the NEATS card process from scratch (fingerprints, background check, etc.) now has a card. After completing all the paperwork and getting the card, it wasn’t functional and the IT folks told us it was because they couldn’t see any “shell” which they needed to “activate” the card. Our sponsor had the volunteer fill out a TASS Fm 1 to submit to MP ICAM for a token but that didn’t seem to work so I reached out to Ed Yoder (Military Field Support - DPSOF ,DEERS/RAPIDS/MP-ICAM/SDC, Randolph AFB) for help.

Ed sent us the current form required - DAF MP ICAM Fm 7 (Sep 24).  Ed provided the following details after our volunteer sponsor initially filled out the incorrect form to start his application.  Ed told us DEERS was reflecting our volunteer’s personnel category as “Non DoD civil service employee” and it needed to reflect “Non-Federal Agency PNL” as this supports the NEATS category.  Since our volunteer had a DEERS record established from his military retirement, the 10-digit DoD ID was present, which greatly helps with moving forward with the NEATS (no “Shell” record build is needed).  He told us there was no requirement for the volunteer to visit the MPF Customer Service to update his “Shell” record in RAPIDS since the volunteer had an existing 10-digit DoDID, a.k.a., EDIPI, that our local IT communication helpdesk would use with the ATIMS workstation to issue the NEATS card. Our volunteers MPASM sponsor would need to proceed in MP-ICAM to recreate a new application.

The sponsor would need to select in MP-ICAM, “Is the sponsorship for NEATS Card Only?, and slide the radio button to the right, enabling the application to build the NEATS eligibility.  As the sponsor continues to fill in the application, they will need to select “Other Credential or DEERS Enrollment (No background vetting required),” as this allows for NEATS approval.  Once the sponsor saves & approves, then the volunteer can proceed to their local IT communication helpdesk and have the NEATS issued from the ATIMS workstation by the Local Registration Authority/Trusted Agent.  The Trusted Agent will then see volunteer has an affiliation/record created in DEERS to support the NEATS eligibility for card issuance.

Our IT folks say the following completed forms are required to get a NEATS card:

DD Form 2875

DD Form 2842

DD Form 2793

DAF Form 4394

-  RAO 2025 Annual Reports

Reports were due to AFRS by 16 Feb.  When I contacted Rhys on 5 May she indicated she received reports from 39 RAOs.  So, 39 RAOs out of ~75 submitted a report - 51%. That means 49% of RAOs didn’t even bother to submit a report.  On 11 May Rhys sent out the consolidated “Other Accomplishments” text and Issues from the annual reports to the Area Representatives. About 31 of the reports had any text at all in “Other Accomplishments” (41%) and 25 submitted Issues (33%).  If you haven’t seen these documents yet, contact your Area Rep.  At earlier meetings I expounded on why I believe these reports are so important and mentioned that I personally find these numbers disappointing. We talked some about issue papers for the upcoming Council meeting, needing more formalized documentation in regards to Council meeting notes, and an AF need for a formalized Council website, like the Army and Navy.  Links to those sites are below:

CSA Retired Soldier Council | Soldier for Life

Navy & Marine Corps Retiree Council

-  Update on virtual social security and Medicare briefings

  We’ve now had several social security and Medicare virtual briefings (held on alternate months) with typically about 20 folks attending each of them.  On 25 Mar we had an in-person SS brief and help session on base with three PA specialists attending.  SS provided an opening brief followed by 3 hours of one-on-one time to work with retirees on my SS Accounts, questions, etc.  Very positive feedback from retirees who attended.  We use a “registration” link and cut off the number of attendees to 20-25. 

-  New AF Retiree Website

About a month ago Patrick Hughes from Hurlburt AFB pointed out to me there were at least two websites with AF Retiree information. One is the AFPC site at https://www.afpc.af.mil/Retirees/ and the other one was the AF Retiree Services website at https://www.retirees.af.mil The original AFRS website was the one I’d used forever and now that has been deleted.  The AFPC site contains the most recent issue of the Afterburner (Issue 1, 2026), a list of RAOs and RADs, DAF Retiree Resources, etc. It has no AFI 36-3106, no RAO Desk Guide, no AF Retiree Council info, etc. According to Rhys, the AFPC site is really for retirees, not RAOs, so these items aren’t found there.

She indicated that originally the Air Force deemed the AFRS site redundant and set a sunset date of NLT 31 Oct 2025, then AFPC went into a shutdown and the date was TBD.  There was a lot of confusion regarding the owner/webmaster of the new site since the editor/writer position was abolished.  AFPC PAO took it over and they and Rhus started creating a new site. Rhys was advised they couldn’t keep all that information from the old site on the new site because it was redundant and that is why it was eliminated. The current/new site was directed to be a condensed version of the old one. In addition, the webmaster has to validate all the links on the site several times a year so that dictates how many links they can have. They want hot links to money, health, and current events. They don’t want multiple links to different part of the same main site (four links to TRICARE, six links to different parts of DFAS, etc.) but want to direct traffic to the main site so the user can follow prompts. Rhys is open to feedback so if you have things you believe would make the site more efficient, we can pass those on. I believe we should have an AF RAO specific website with the “missing” documents, Retiree Council info, etc. Thoughts?

If you want to have your RAD advertised on the AFPC Retiree website, you need to fill out and e-mail the “Retiree Appreciation Day Announcement/Worksheet” to afpc.retiree@us.af.mil They only show two on the site right now.

-  Army Retirement Service Offices

As you know, the AF and Navy RAOs are staffed by all volunteers.  If you didn’t already know, Army Retirement Service Offices are organized differently than AF RAOs. Rhys recently had a conversation with the Army Director of Retirement services, and she broke down how the Army is manned to include the paid Retirement Service Officer (RSO) positions. After Rhys mentioned this to me, I reached out to my Army RSO contact at Ft Carson with a few questions.  She informed me the number of paid employees at each RSO is determined by the base Table of Distribution and Allowances (TDA) - each installation has their own number.  For example, some places have more than one RSO (Ft Sam Houston) while many others, like Ft Carson, only have one. The grade level of the paid position can vary by base, typically between GS09 and GS11.  These RSOs can have other duties assigned in addition to RSO stuff. The Army posts job ads on USAJOBS to fill their positions.

Ft Carson told me none of the RSOs use any volunteers because Army HQ determined there was too much PII involved.  Ft Carson requested authorization to use some volunteers many years ago and it was denied.

  I’m told Army Retirement Services is all at DCS G1 and is staffed as such:

Director

Deputy Director

MyServiceBenefits Program Manager

Retirement Services Program Manager

Management Analyst

HR SPC

  Michael Hinman mentioned he has an Army RSO person in his area that walks all the Army Gray Area retirees through the process, which is a great help to them.

-  AF RAO Websites

From research when working the DMDC SmartDoc issue, it looks like only about 35% of AF RAOs have a website.  This is a major issue for the DMDC concept of providing info to retirees via RAO websites. When I talked with my Navy POC who oversees their RAOs, he believes only two Navy RAOs have a website.  I  encourage you to check out the Minneapolis Navy RAO website. In my opinion, it’s the best one I have ever seen. Navy Retired Activities Office - Supporting Retired Sailors in Minneapolis My Navy POC said he thought 6 or less Navy RAOs get a SmartDoc push each year.

So, those are the main things I recall from our meeting.  If I missed, or misrepresented, anything you feel is noteworthy please let me know.  Also, if you have any general comments on the meeting please e-mail me.

  Thanks again for your participation.  Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, comments or changes you would like to see made regarding these periodic meetings.  We’re doing these for all of us so if they’re missing the mark please speak up.  I’ll be back in touch with details for our next meeting in July.

v/r,

Steve

Steve Young

Lt Col, USAF, Ret

Director, Buckley SFB RAO

All,

  I’d like to thank everyone who was able to participate in our 15th meeting on Monday, 2 Mar. We only had a 14 total folks participating.

  Below are some of the things we went over today. 

Updates

- Rhys is back in TX and has been working on some RAO stuff. Long-term plans for that position still seem to be up in the air. AFPC signed the DMDC document and sent it back to them on Fri, 6 February. Supposedly DMDC approved it  back in July 2025. She has heard back from her contacts at DMDC just asking questions that have already been answered earlier and still no input on getting retiree data from them.

- Just a reminder that April is Volunteer Appreciation month and an opportunity for you to submit your RAO, and volunteers, for recognition. Each year we submit our RAO for a base award, and for several years now we have submitted one of our volunteers for the AF Volunteer Excellence Award, which several have received. Of course, you can also submit one of your volunteers to receive a RAO Volunteer of the Year certificate signed by the Council Co-Chairs.

- The new Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Kenneth Wilsbach, was sworn in on 3 Nov 2025. No info on whether Chief Bass has worked with him regarding a letter to MAJCOMs on the importance of RAOs. During the meeting with us the Chief thought that letter might get done by February. 

- I plan to dial back our RAO collaboration meetings to every two months, so will plan on holding the next one in May.  Feel free to provide me with any input you have on that.

Main Topics for Today

-  RAO 2025 Annual Reports

Reports were due to AFRS by 16 Feb.  As of last Mon, a week after the reports were due, Rhys tells me she had received reports from about 20% of the RAOs - out of ~77 RAOs.  Looking back at 2024, only about 44 RAOs out of ~77 submitted a report - 57%. That means 43% of RAOs didn’t even bother to submit a report.  Of the 44 that submitted a report, only 27 included any text at all in the “Other Accomplishments” section of the report - 61% of them. That means, overall, AFRS received “Other Accomplishments” information from only ~35% of RAOs. Personally, I find these numbers very discouraging.

I believe our annual report is a very important document for several reasons, and particularly the “Other Accomplishments” section which allows us total flexibility on what we include.  I include a lot of detail in our report for three primary reasons. First, this is really our only opportunity each year to provide AFPC a comprehensive summary of what our office has done during the year, how we operate, what our concerns are, etc. Essentially, why RAOs are indeed important! Second, the report is essentially an annual history report for our RAO and will provide any future Directors with easily accessible, and  detailed, information on what the office did prior to their tenure. This is important for continuity within the RAO.  Lastly, if the text in the “Other Accomplishments” section is shared annually with all the other RAOs, which I absolutely believe it should be, some of the information may be of help to other RAOs. 

-  Consolidated Yearly “Other Accomplishments” text from all RAO Annual Reports

I view this underutilized portion of our annual report as, by far, the most important.  I say this based on my own personal experience.  When I first joined the Buckley SFB RAO in late 2017, I had absolutely no idea what an RAO did. My first action was to reach out to Tammy Cournoyer at AFRS and ask her for the names of several RAO Directors she believed really had their stuff together so I could reach out to them for help, education and advice.  One of the Directors (at the time) she referred me to was Terry Jensen at Hurlburt Field.  During my discussions with Terry, he mentioned there was a Word document that consolidated text from the “Other Accomplishments” section of each RAO report and was kind enough to send me a copy of the latest one he had.  Needless to say, as a new guy I found this document to be a literal gold mine of information.  I reached out to numerous RAO Directors to talk with them personally about things I saw in their report, things I felt would be good for our RAO to emulate.  All the Directors I contacted were very helpful and willing to share information, lessons learned, tools, processes, etc. That experience led me to view the information in the “Other Accomplishments” section from other annual RAO reports as absolutely invaluable.  To this day I try to ensure I get a copy of this information every year and review it for ideas that can help us improve our operation.  I don’t think a year has gone by when I didn’t find items of interest to our operation.  So, when I take the time to provide a lot of detail in our reports, I’m always thinking that, just maybe, some other RAO out there will find that information as useful as I did.

I’d be interested in knowing how many of you are familiar with this document, whether you routinely receive it and how useful you find it?

-  Highlighting and documenting the more “impactful” things RAOs do for retirees (topic raised by Area XII rep MSgt Chavez)

Since our last meeting MSgt Chavez (Area XII Council Rep) reached out to me regarding the importance of RAOs telling, and documenting, the more “meaningful” actions they accomplish in support of retirees/surviving spouses. As an example, he referenced the case I spoke of where our office, in a matter of a couple days, located and provided a Class A uniform in support of a dying vet’s request to be buried in uniform.  I’m sure all of you have many similar stories you can tell that really get to the heart of why what we all do is so important.

Just based on what I’ve seen regarding annual reports, I wonder how much this is being done. Of course, I only know how our office approaches this issue. First, I believe the “Other Accomplishments” section of the annual report provides a perfect place to highlight these items. In addition, for those more out of the ordinary things we do, we forward the information on to our base leadership to make them aware of the impact we have beyond the routine calls (ID cards, wills, pay issues, etc) and the true value added impact we have for retirees and surviving spouses - like casualty assistance.  We also send info on these particularly noteworthy cases (in my opinion) to our POCs at AFRS (Rhys Michael).  We communicate fairly regularly with base leadership to try and make them aware of what we do - sending them a RAD summary, having them review our annual report, sending them a yearly summary of what we do, telling them about our more noteworthy support activities, etc. At the end of each year, we also send out an RAO summary to all the retirees and annuitants on our e-mail distribution list (currently ~2500 folks). We tell them how many customers we supported, what our most frequent inquiries are, the number of volunteer hours provided to the RAO (and the many other organizations our volunteers support), the unique cases we handled, etc.  I feel it’s important to give them the big picture and let them know all the things the office has done over the year, not only for them individually, but for others.

-  Update on virtual social security and Medicare briefings

  We’ve now had one social security and one Medicare virtual briefing so far with about 20 folks attending each of them.  We use a “registration” link and cut off the number of attendees to 20-25.  Our PA person from SS has funding to do an in-person meeting in Mar, along with two other individuals, and wants to have a 4-hour session to provide a brief and then work with individuals one-on-one.  That is planned for 25 Mar.

-  Update on RAO issues Chief Bass is helping with - SmartDoc, CSAF Letter, DMDC retiree data (if available)

No update on these issues.  Chief Bass has spoken with Lt Gen Roberson about the position Rhys & Lori had at AFPC and they hope to engage regarding the need for the position(s). Rhys seems to think AFPC does realize such a position is needed based on her absence. Chief Bass mentioned she has met with SAF/MR and mentioned RAO programs.

ID Cards (again)

About a week ago we got a call from a retired Reservist that had their NextGen ID card confiscated at the gate when it came up “terminated” on the DBIDS scanner, so I contacted our MPF to ask why it might have happened.  First, they told me the “termination” indication by DBIDS is fairly common and happens for many different reasons, and not just for retirees.  If DBIDS states “terminated”, then the DEERS record is not active for X, Y and Z reasons or DBIDS is glitching for X, Y and Z reasons.

For this particular case I was told that the member’s status had transitioned from Reserve Retired to Retired. When this change occurs, the DEERS profile automatically updates, and the existing ID card is terminated by the system. When I asked how DEERS knows when the member has transitioned, I was told DEERS is updated directly by each service’s personnel system. Because there can be a delay between a member’s retirement being processed and the update appearing in DEERS, they ask that Guard and Reserve retirees bring a copy of their official retirement orders when they come in for their “retired” ID card. Having their retirement orders on hand helps ensure a smooth transition if the system has not yet been updated. I asked if this is also true for Gray Area Retirees who are eligible to receive their retired pay before age 60 and was told Yes.  Our MPF believes the best guidance to share with any Guard or Reserve retirees that haven’t turned 60 yet is that their current ID card will automatically terminate at age 60.

Medicare and Social Security Contacts

Kirtland AFB and Biddle AGB asked for info on how to locate the Medicare and Social Security contacts for their areas.  For Medicare, the following website will show you Regional Offices and the e-mail for each one so you can reach out and ask for someone to contact in your region CMS Regional Offices | CMS

For social security, here is the link you can use to Ask for a Social Security speaker. The page instructs you to email your Regional Public Affairs person and they will send the request to the appropriate Public Affairs Specialist closest to you. If you e-mail your region and don’t get a response in a reasonable period of time let me know and I’ll reach out to my PA person here in Denver and ask for assistance.

So, those are the main things I recall from our meeting.  If I missed, or misrepresented, anything you feel is noteworthy please let me know.  Also, if you have any general comments on the meeting please e-mail me.

  Thanks again for your participation.  Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, comments or changes you would like to see made regarding these periodic meetings.  We’re doing these for all of us so if they’re missing the mark please speak up.  I’ll be back in touch with details for our next meeting in May.

v/r,

Steve

Steve Young

Lt Col, USAF, Ret

Director, Buckley SFB RAO

All,

  I’d like to thank everyone who was able to participate in our 14th meeting on Monday, 2 Feb. We had a pretty good turnout with 19 total folks participating.

  Below are some of the things we went over today. 

- Mike Hinman, AF Retiree Council Area V rep, gave us a short rundown on some inputs he got from Lt Gen Roberson, Council co-chair, on the future of the Council.  Lt Gen Roberson assured him the Council will not be going away.  We still don’t know whether the billets occupied by Lori Kullberg and Rhys Michael will be filled or who the RAO POC at AFRS will be.  Rhys was supposed to finish up her work in DC last week.

- I discussed the annual RAO summary we send out to all the retirees on our e-mail distro list (~2500) as well as the Col we work for on base.  I cover the number and makeup of our volunteers, hours worked (both in the RAO and for other organizations), number of folks we helped along with the most frequent help requests we get (IDs, etc.), the RAD, other activities the RAO supports (veteran’s Day cards, etc.), unusual supports we provided, etc.

- I gave a short update on the virtual social security and Medicare classes we are offering on alternate months.

I went over three areas related to ID cards:

            - Old ID cards that show up as “terminated” in DBIDS are being confiscated at some bases.

            - The ID card process for dependents turning 65 and when they can actually get the INDEF ID card

issued. I mentioned the dependent’s ID will expire the last day of the month before their 65th birthday

and they can’t get their INDEF ID until the month they turn 65.  Someone during the meeting said they

actually can’t get the INDEF until the day after they turn 65. Just today one of my volunteers, who turns

65 tomorrow, got his new INDEF ID today, so he didn’t have to wait until the day after his birthday.  Is it different

for a dependent than a military retiree?  He did say he needed his Medicare card.

- Why new ID cards are necessary for surviving spouses of military retirees.

- We mentioned the annual RAO reports are due to AFRS on 16 Feb, though we currently don’t know who they will go to (Rhys?). Several folks mentioned they had not received the 2025 report template, and I told everyone they went out to the Retiree Council Area Reps in Dec. If anyone still needs it, let me know.

- I mentioned we had no update from Chief Bass on several issues she is helping us with: the DMDC agreement that will allow us to get access to AF retiree data; a letter from the current CSAF to MAJCOMs on the importance of RAOs; and the SmartDoc Rules of Engagement (ROE) and sample SmartDoc text that we provided to Chief Bass right after our last meeting on 6 Jan.  If I get an update on any of these prior to our next meeting, I’ll pass it along.

- I mentioned I am planning to hold our next meeting on Mon, 2 Mar.

- Christina Randel from Germany indicated she had no previous reports from her RAO so wondered what she should put in her report. She also asked about what tools other RAOs use to track volunteer hours, track what customers call about, etc. Jerry Edmonds from Travis offered up the spreadsheet he uses to track volunteer hours and others offered up some other tools as well. I’ll send Christina a report template for 2025, the spreadsheet we use to track contacts and subjects, etc.

- Joanne Stanton mentioned that some airports take a military ID for identification with no problem, and other airports won’t accept them and require a driver’s license or something else.  One the meeting attendees works at an airport and indicated it’s a software issue.

- Here’s an update on my attempt to enroll in VA healthcare. I submitted my online application on 7 Nov. About a month ago I got a letter from the VA saying my application was incomplete, they didn’t have proof of my military service (DD-214), which they didn’t ask me to upload during the online application process.  When I called the VA number, they told me they could see my DD-214 and didn’t know why I got the letter.  The lady told me it showed my application was “deferred” due to income. I explained we did large ROTH conversions last year so maybe looking at 2025 would be different and she said she would request the VA re-evaluate it.  Finally, I got a letter dated 20 Jan saying I was not enrolled and was in Priority Group 8a, due to income.

So, those are the main things I recall from our meeting.  If I missed, or misrepresented, anything you feel is noteworthy please let me know. 

  Thanks again for your participation.  Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, comments or changes you would like to see made regarding these monthly meetings.  We’re doing these for all of us so if they’re missing the mark please speak up. 

v/r,

Steve

Steve Young

Lt Col, USAF, Ret

Director, Buckley SFB RAO