Welcome to the PPC ADV Data Integrity Newsletter. This newsletter will cover the top 10 issues our Data Correction team has seen over the last 12 months and provide you with direction on how to correct or prevent these issues at the field level. We appreciate all your hard work in the field and our goal with this newsletter is to provide you with all the tools you need to succeed!

• Issue 1 - September 02, 2021

The Coast Guard inadvertently misinterpreted a 2010 BCMR ruling for a Regular to Reserve (R2R) case in which it was authorized to close the break in service of a member who transitioned into the Coast Guard Reserve by way of Regular to Reserve (R2R). PPC blanketed this ruling to any R2R Rehire from 2010-2017 and aligned their Anniversary Year with their Pay Base Date. This was incorrectly processed because the signed Oath of Office did not take effect until a future date, which should have resulted in a legitimate break in service. This error was discovered during pre-board record reviews when service dates, anniversary dates, and personnel records were not aligning with each other.

Read the article to learn more.

Mission

Our foremost purpose is to validate creditable military service. We process Statements of Creditable Service (SOCS) and Statements of Creditable Sea Service (SOCSS). These requests must be submitted by the Servicing Personnel Office (SPO) via a trouble ticket to PPC Customer Care, and can take up to a year or longer for PPC to complete.

On this page:

1. Requesting SOCS
2. Requesting a SOCSS

1. Requesting a SOCS

Refer to: Statement of Creditable Service (SOCS) Guide (the guide includes the checklist)(September 28, 2022)

The SPO Must Request a SOCS When:

1. The member’s service dates (i.e., Active Duty Base Date (ADBD), Pay Base Date (PBD), Date of Initial Entry into Military Service (DIEMS) are incorrect.
2. The member is enlisting (or assessed as officers) and has prior service in another branch of service.
3. The member is enlisting (or assessed as officers) and has prior Coast Guard or Coast Guard Reserve service with a break in service.
4. The member is a Coast Guard reservist with greater than 15 years of total combined active service who is considering extended active duty (Retirement Sanctuary Rule).
5. The member is a Coast Guard reservist who is integrating into the regular Coast Guard.

6. A member graduates from the Academy with an appointment as a commissioned officer and the member attended the Scholar Program (served on active duty or reserve) prior to hire as a Cadet

7. A member dis-enrolls from the Academy and returns to enlisted status.

Documentation Needed SOCS Only

To generate an accurate SOCS, PPC requires all of the member's prior service documentation to be scanned and emailed to us.

• All contracts (i.e., DD Form 4). IMPORTANT: Do NOT send a member’s DD-4 Enlistment Contracts with the SOCSS request. These are only needed for a Statement of Creditable Service (SOCS), not a SOCSS.

• All Discharge Documents including DD-214's (preferably member copy, page 4) and NGB 22 and 23's for National Guard members. (NGB Documents are the National Guard's version of the DD-214 and enlistment contracts)

• All Oath of Office (Officers) 

• For members who served in a Reserve Component and/or the National Guard (prior to entering us the US Coast Guard), we must have the Reserve Retirement Statements.

• All National Guard NGB 22 and/or 23’s (NGB Documents are the National Guard’s version of the DD-214 and enlistment contracts). Copies should be available from the office of the State Adjutant General.

• The individual is the primary resource in furnishing this information. (Documentation can be ordered from: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/). 

Documents Containing Errors 

If you request a SOCS with a DD-214 that is incorrect, our SOCS would mirror the DD-214 that we receive and would consequently be incorrect, possibly putting the member in an incorrect pay status.

If your DD-214 requires a change or correction, you will need to submit a DD-149, Application for Correction of Military Record Under the Provisions of Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1552, along with supporting documentation to PSC (bops-c) at HQS-DG-M-CGPSC-BOPS-C@uscg.mil.

How to request a SOCS

For all SOCS requests an E-6 or above in the member’s SPO must contact PPC Customer Service via an online trouble ticket or send an email to PPC-DG-customercare@uscg.mil  and provide the following information:

• A completed SOCS Checklist

  •  Statement of Creditable Service (SOCS) Guide (the guide includes the checklist)(September 28, 2022)

  • SOCS Checklist only(September 28, 2022)

• Member's Employee ID and full name

• Members Servicing SPO ID

• Whether or not member has any prior service - all documents will need to be scanned and emailed

• A descriptive narrative as to the problem as well as the reason for the SOCS request 

• SOCS date, if member has already had a SOCS completed and it is thought to be incorrect.

Note: Any request for a SOCS must be submitted by an E-6 and above. Any SOCS request without a completed and verified checklist will be returned and the ticket closed.

If the SOCS is being requested by an Entry Point (i.e., TRACEN Cape May, CG Academy) and the Entry Point is NOT in possession of the required source documents, flag the member’s record and request the receiving SPO at the member’s first PDS submit the SOCS request with the required source documents.

Per the Personnel and Pay Procedures Manual, do not request SOCS completion status less than 120 days from initial request date.

The SPO will file a copy of the SOCS request in the member's PDR, section 2, to serve as supporting documentation for crediting the member with prior service time for pay entry base date and active duty base date purposes.

Interim Pay Base Date (PBD) Adjustment 

Because it may take an extended period of time to receive records from the National Personnel Records Center, and from other Armed Services, PPC can enter an Interim PBD adjustment. The SPO must request an Interim PBD adjustment and provide the specific date to be used as the interim PBD. Because there is the possibility that the DD-214 from the prior service may not support the request interim PBD, the SPO must counsel the member that they may be overpaid due to the Interim Pay Base Date adjustment. Requests for an interim adjustment must contain the following sentence from section 6-J of the Personnel and Pay Procedures Manual (3PM):

"The member has been counseled and understands that if the total sea time/prior service added, based on the DD-214, is not supported by the prior service records, then the member will be in an overpaid status."

The purpose of the Interim Adjustment is to help the member get his pay adjusted in a timely manner. PPC will only use blocks 12A and 12B of the DD Form 214 for pay base date purposes and will not count any active or inactive time. If the member is accessing from the reserve component, PPC will only use the point statement from the other Armed Service. A SOCS will still be completed once all of the information from the National Personnel Records Center and the member’s prior service has been received from the SPO/member. An interim adjustment does not speed up the casework process.

2. Requesting a SOCSS

Refer to: Statement of Creditable Sea Service (SOCSS) Guide (the guide includes checklist)(September 28, 2022)

The SPO must request a SOCSS when:

1. A member’s sea time is incorrect.

Note 1:  Do not ignore suspected sea time errors simply because a member is not currently assigned to a sea pay eligible vessel.

Note 2:  Prior to January 1, 2015, if there is a discrepancy in the sea pay, the SPO PAO official needs to certify the member is/was entitled to Career Sea Pay (the actual dates) IAW 4.B. “Career Sea Pay” of the Pay Manual for any and all pre DA sea pay/time issues that were not entered into JUMPS (JDR).

Note 3:  Prior to January 1, 2015 the SPO must provide documentation supporting sea time adjustments requested.

Documentation Needed SOCSS Only

Checklist and documentation associated with research (See How to request a SOCSS below). 

How to request a SOCSS

For all SOCSS requests an E-6 or above in the member’s SPO must contact PPC Customer Service via an online trouble ticket or send an email to PPC-DG-customercare@uscg.mil  and provide the following information:

• A completed SOCSS Checklist
  • Statement of Creditable Sea Service (SOCSS) Guide (the guide includes checklist)(September 28, 2022)
    • SOCSS Checklist only(28 September 2022)
• Member's Employee ID and full name
• Members Servicing SPO ID
• Whether or not member has any prior sea service - all signed DD-214 and/or DD-215 forms showing prior sea service.
• A descriptive narrative as to the problem as well as the reason for the SOCSS request 

Note: Any request for a SOCSS must be submitted by an E-6 and above. Any SOCSS request without a completed and verified checklist will be returned and the ticket closed.

The SPO will file a copy of the SOCSS request in the member's PDR, section 2, to serve as verifying documentation that sea time balances were adjusted on the completed SOCSS date.

Last Modified    September 28, 2022