As some/many of your know, I've been working on getting my Early Separation for Education submitted/accepted since March. On this past Thursday I got my new ETS orders, so I feel this is a good time to write the guide that has been requested.

First, your sources are going to be AR 635-200, Chapter 5-16. If you have access to S1NET, you can find an example 4187 there. I'll sanitize mine and throw it up on the sub Shared Drive as well, but you might be waiting a couple days for that.

Now, what does it do? It will allow you to leave the Army up to 90 days early, or 10 days before the start of the semester you are trying to attend (or 30 days under special circumstances). Your school must be accredited and offer an associates, bachelors, or higher diploma, or a Voc/trade school that's at least 3 months.

What do you need? Fill out a DA 4187, and try and get one of the fancy pdf ones, because you can attach your supporting documents right inside the file so it doesn't get lost in an email somewhere. Those supporting documents are:
-ERB
-Your original DD-4 (Your contract). Make sure it's your original, not one from any reenlistments
-A letter from school stating that you are accepted and plan to attend, and include the start date of the semester
-Something that explains how you are paying for school. I got my certificate of eligibility for GI Bill from the VA (look for VONAPP), and they accepted that. If you are paying with something else, get documentation on it.

In the body of the 4187, explain why you need to be separated early to go to school, what your current ETS is, and what your requested ETS is. You also need to explain that you leaving the Army early will not be a financial burden. Easy to do if you have Post 9/11 GI Bill, maybe not so easy otherwise.

Ok, you have all the paperwork, now what? Send that shit up. By regulation, it only has to go up to your SCMCA which should be your first O-6, but mine got sent up to the GCMCA, aka first GO. Now you play the waiting game.

Eventually, you will get sent your ETS orders, and you can clear as normal.

If anyone has any questions, or thinks of a way I can clear this up or expand upon anything, feel free to let me know. Some of this is YMMV based on command, but this is my experience, and I feel like if they could have made it more difficult for me, they would have.