Military Transition Assistance Program (TAP): An Overview

The military Transition Assistance Program (TAP) was established by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 1991 (P.L. 101-510). The original purpose of the program was to help ease the transition to civilian life for military servicemembers who were involuntarily separated as part of the force structure drawdowns of the late 1980s. From 1991 to 2011, Congressional interest in the program remained high, particularly in regard to troops who served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2011, Congress passed the VOW (Veterans Opportunity to Work) to Hire Heroes Act (Title II of P.L. 112-56), which made a pre-separation counseling program mandatory for all servicemembers with at least 180 continuous days of active duty. Current law requires servicemembers to begin participating in TAP as soon as possible during the 24-month period preceding an anticipated retirement date or 12-month period preceding the anticipated separation date. It also specifies that pre-separation counseling should commence no later than 90 days before the date of discharge or release unless precluded by unanticipated circumstances or operational requirements. In 2011 the Obama Administration established the Veterans' Employment Initiative Task Force with the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) and charged the task force with redesigning TAP. There designed Transition GPS (Goals, Plans, Success) program includes a Military Life Cycle component that starts preparing the service member for civilian transition at the beginning of his or her military career and at certain milestones (e.g., promotion, deployment) throughout that career. At each of these milestones, servicemembers are made aware of Career Readiness Standards (CRSs) and are given opportunities to review and adjust personal financial planning objectives and individual development plans. Overtime, Congress has also increased the number and scope of required TAP counseling topics.