Reminder for Soon-to-be-Retirees: Beginning January 1, 2024, PPC/RAS will no longer accept versions of the Form DD-2656 older than March 2022 as your application for retirement pay. There have been updates made to the form that allow for more efficiencies in processing new retiree accessions. Please submit your DD-2656 to PPC-DG-CustomerCare@uscg.mil at least 90 days prior to your date of retirement. Failure to provide this form - with a signature dated prior to your retirement date - will result in your enrollment in the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) for at least 24 months.

The DD-2656 and other necessary forms are listed in the Retirement Package and can be accessed online. Please complete the forms and worksheets legibly. We strongly recommend you fill them out online using the Adobe Acrobat program on the Coast Guard, PHS, or NOAA Standard Workstation. Completion of the Data for Payment of Retired Personnel Form (DD-2656) is mandatory to establish your account so you can be paid on time. The completed DD-2656 must be scanned and attached to a PPC Help Ticket to PPC (RAS) at least 90 days prior to your date of retirement.

Many people will try opening a PDF form and find that they get an error that says "Please wait."  This is not a problem with the form but has to do with the set-up of your computer's browser as the default for opening Adobe Acrobat forms.  Many computers use the browser's built-in PDF viewer as the default for opening Adobe forms, but the browser's viewer cannot handle the macros built into the form. The simple solution to this problem is to save the form to your computer and then open the form by starting Acrobat Reader DC (from the start menu) and use it to open the form from its saved location.  This should open the form in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC rather than your browser, allowing full functionality.

Note: We used the Microsoft Edge browser for this guide.

1. Click on a form link.
   
2.  A message “The document you are trying to load…” appears instead of the form.
   
3. Click on the Save icon.
   
4. The file save dialog box will open.
   
5. Select a folder, rename the file (if desired), and save it.
   
6. Navigate to the folder where you saved the file.
   
7. Right-mouse click on the file icon or name and select Open with > Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
   
8. Acknowledge any notices that appear.
   
9. Fill in the form, saving it periodically. Save and print when completed.