On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:21:22 -0700, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


The discharge certificates were DD forms. A USAF honorable is DD256AF.

Casady


Maybe that answers a question I had. When I got my Social Security, they
wanted to see the Discharge papers. Why? And I think mine were DD256 and
not a DD214. And I wondered why.

Why does the AF do it different? I thought they were all DD214.
Maybe Cassady's pulling your leg.
Probably asked for your discharge papers because the SS processing
office wasn't too sharp, or you had an odd earnings history.
I sent in for a DD214 earlier to have when I got SS earlier this year.
Lost mine. Saw it was "needed" according to the SS web site.
But SS never asked for it. The lady told me she didn't need it.
How it works if they use military service year earnings for
calculating benefits. They add some amount of SS earnings for your
years in the service. Different service year ranges get different
amounts added.
This is because servicemen are generally underpaid compared to
civvies, so they have some formula to make up for that.
But the thing is SS calculates your benefits on the 35 years of
highest earnings.
In most cases this won't include any service years.
Part of the application is the years you were in the service.
It's pretty evident from your SS earnings statement whether those
service years are in the top 35 years.
In my statement they are clearly my 4 lowest earning years, so they
were immaterial in calculating my benefits.
That's my understanding of what I've gleaned from the web.
You can get into the weeds of SS law and regs if you want to verify
that. I don't guarantee anything I say. Ever.
Learned that from a sleazy lawyer.

--Vic