DOGE'd Feds and impending shutdown

[Anonymous]

Try reaching out to:

GRB Benefits Service Center
1-877-386-4010 voice
1-877-386-4066 fax
[e-mail]

https://www.opm.gov/retirement-center/online-retirement-application/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try reaching out to:

GRB Benefits Service Center
1-877-386-4010 voice
1-877-386-4066 fax
[e-mail]

https://www.opm.gov/retirement-center/online-retirement-application/

OP, don’t. Have some faith in your husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.

He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now???

I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful.

That part was not needed. Let your husband be. Your nagging is not helpful. Lockdown (or threat of lockdown) has happened many times before. Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, just stay calm and live your life. It will get sorted out. OPM backlog of retirement paper is 6months+ meaning your DH will not see his final numbers until next year, most likely. However that does not mean you won’t get paid (pension checks) until then. You will get interim checks (estimated amounts) until then. So, please, step back and give him some space. The last thing he needs is his wife getting on his back. Give it a rest.

I'm not nagging him. But basic, BASIC information is utterly missing. Coooes of the paperwork he supposedly filed. (Did he file everything correctly? I have no idea. He has no idea. He doesn't remember.) It is an absolute black hole of information and he doesn't remember absolutely nothing to follow up, call, ask any human he knows, nothing.

I do understand that this is traumatic. It's a trauma for me, too. Our entire financial future has been blown up. I fully supported him leaving because the stress of having absolutely unqualified and reckless DOGE idiots trample over everything he had down for 3 decades was killing him. He is still young but after 3 decades becoming an expert in a niche field and assuming he would have that job for another 8-10 years until retirement, he can't even think yet about starting over. I try to keep my mouth shut as talking about it at all shuts him down.

But we do not have a big savings cushion. I have a steady job for now but that will be at risk too, with further federal funding disasters looming. We both have had major mid-life situations with elderly parents and an adult child that blew up our financial safety net, and we are now both mid-50s with school aged children and a mortgage and we cannot survive with just my income for very long.

I am venting here because I am NOT nagging him. Nagging does no good. He is in complete shut down. And he shuts down absolutely like this with all kinds of other crises in life and I always handle things, take the lead, call who needs to be called, do the paperwork that needs to be done, stanch the bleeding, call in the experts, research options, fix what I can. But in this case, I have no information, no contacts, no access to anything, no one to call, no copies of anything, no information whatsoever, and, yeah, it's stressful. I have no estimates, no idea how much health care will cost, no way to make a budget, no information whatsoever.

And yes, we have been on the brink of divorce for years, but I have tried to hold this ship together with duct tape and sheer will for a long time. But now I feel like the duct tape is over my eyes and the leaking ship with my kids on it is heading for...I have no idea...a steep falls? A tanker coming at is is at full speed? Calm waters and I'm making a crisis over nothing?

The black hole of guidance is what is terrifying.

PP you were responding to. Do you know if he remembers his agency's HR rep he worked with? If not, his manager still working? He must know how to reach out to HR, at least. Here is what I think is going on. For full disclosure, I am taking end of Sept DRP too. At my agency, HR checks all papers before sending it to OPM. I reached out to HR guy who processed my paper about a month ago and he told me it's all set and his manager is doing the final review/double check. They will not reach out to you unless something is wrong. His HR will probably submit the paper to OPM next pay period. If he wants, he can reach out to your HR and just ask "hey all looking good?" For shutdown (sorry i said "lockdown" even though it feels like a lockdown), we will probably go thru a CR which Govt does all the time. You should be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

[Anonymous]

OP, this might help you understand the process

https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/09/end-fork-road/408370/?oref=ge-homepage-river

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

no, OPs husband was DRP/VERA eligible. they are an *unwilling* retiree. The problem is that anyone who is eligible for a pension will not receive a severance if RIFed. So a lot of people faced the awful choice of taking 4 months of DRP severance + early retirement, or holding on and possibly getting immediately terminated with no severance.

But now the spouse has not been able to find other work and any leave payout/annuity may be delayed for several months just due to backlog, and possibly longer if the gov shuts down. It's an awful choice, and spouse may be additionally paralyzed because a) it's possible his org never implemented a RIF and his job would have been safe(ish). or b) his org was RIFed and any private sector opportunities are being fiercely pursued by all of his colleagues as well. or c) all of the above.

Anyway, as a commenter above said, assume money may not come for some time. health insurance should continue, with the estimated payments being covered by his estimated annuity. I'm sorry that your family is going through this.

[Anonymous]

OP, you need to back off and first see if there is a shutdown. It might get delayed but nothing will happen before then so just take it day by day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.

He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now???

I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful.

That part was not needed. Let your husband be. Your nagging is not helpful. Lockdown (or threat of lockdown) has happened many times before. Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, just stay calm and live your life. It will get sorted out. OPM backlog of retirement paper is 6months+ meaning your DH will not see his final numbers until next year, most likely. However that does not mean you won’t get paid (pension checks) until then. You will get interim checks (estimated amounts) until then. So, please, step back and give him some space. The last thing he needs is his wife getting on his back. Give it a rest.

I'm not nagging him. But basic, BASIC information is utterly missing. Coooes of the paperwork he supposedly filed. (Did he file everything correctly? I have no idea. He has no idea. He doesn't remember.) It is an absolute black hole of information and he doesn't remember absolutely nothing to follow up, call, ask any human he knows, nothing.

I do understand that this is traumatic. It's a trauma for me, too. Our entire financial future has been blown up. I fully supported him leaving because the stress of having absolutely unqualified and reckless DOGE idiots trample over everything he had down for 3 decades was killing him. He is still young but after 3 decades becoming an expert in a niche field and assuming he would have that job for another 8-10 years until retirement, he can't even think yet about starting over. I try to keep my mouth shut as talking about it at all shuts him down.

But we do not have a big savings cushion. I have a steady job for now but that will be at risk too, with further federal funding disasters looming. We both have had major mid-life situations with elderly parents and an adult child that blew up our financial safety net, and we are now both mid-50s with school aged children and a mortgage and we cannot survive with just my income for very long.

I am venting here because I am NOT nagging him. Nagging does no good. He is in complete shut down. And he shuts down absolutely like this with all kinds of other crises in life and I always handle things, take the lead, call who needs to be called, do the paperwork that needs to be done, stanch the bleeding, call in the experts, research options, fix what I can. But in this case, I have no information, no contacts, no access to anything, no one to call, no copies of anything, no information whatsoever, and, yeah, it's stressful. I have no estimates, no idea how much health care will cost, no way to make a budget, no information whatsoever.

And yes, we have been on the brink of divorce for years, but I have tried to hold this ship together with duct tape and sheer will for a long time. But now I feel like the duct tape is over my eyes and the leaking ship with my kids on it is heading for...I have no idea...a steep falls? A tanker coming at is is at full speed? Calm waters and I'm making a crisis over nothing?

The black hole of guidance is what is terrifying.

OP, I wish I could offer some specific guidance but I don’t have any. I just wanted to say I hope in the middle of this shitstorm you are able to do something for yourself every day, even if it is just a brief walk outside, listening to some upbeat music. People talk about the 50s as such a great age where you are confident in your skin, know what your priorities are etc etc. Yeah whatever. Being on your 50s in this area, in a job sector that has been destroyed by the maniac in charge, sandwiched between kids whose futures are more uncertain by the day and aging vulnerable parents. Throw in some perimenopause, marital challenges and a he daily barrage of negative news when you are living in a budding autocracy and well..it’s A LOT. Something will give one way or another and the next step in your life will become clearer with time. In the meantime take care of yourself and try to prioritize sleep and exercise. You don’t want to fall ill.

Thank you for this incredibly kind and empathetic reply. Kindness and empathy are in such short supply these days.

I've had a lot of trauma in my life, to be honest with you. I've cleaned up after a lot of people's disasters and tried to help build a better, more stable life for a lot of people younger than me while also taking care of elders who never took care of me or DH. After all the compromises and sacrifices and crises I've weathered, I thought maybe, somehow, I could finally relax a little, married to a fed with job security. We would never be DC-area "rich" but I have the profound appreciation for what we had...the security of a good paycheck, decent health care benefits, and knowing we could pay off our mortgage and not be destitute in old age. We thought we had a good idea of what the next decade would look like. That's all gone now.

I know very well things could be worse. They've been a LOT worse. We are both relatively healthy and our children are ok. We are fed and have housing and our country hasn't opted into civil war (yet) and the economy hasn't collapsed (yet). No one I love has been disappeared and we are not in the middle
of a genocide. I have a job where my work is valued. But the pace at which everything that used to be secure in an insecure world has fallen apart is dizzying, and I feel terrible that my young children are facing major upheaval and uncertainty ahead when I have worked so hard for stability for them. We will likely have to sell our house and move.

I can't tell you how much it means to have you take the time to remind me to take care of myself. Sleep and exercise and rest are in my control and I need to remember that. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

No. "Voluntary" early retirement doesn't mean we have large savings. It means it was the only viable path forward available in untenable circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

no, OPs husband was DRP/VERA eligible. they are an *unwilling* retiree. The problem is that anyone who is eligible for a pension will not receive a severance if RIFed. So a lot of people faced the awful choice of taking 4 months of DRP severance + early retirement, or holding on and possibly getting immediately terminated with no severance.

But now the spouse has not been able to find other work and any leave payout/annuity may be delayed for several months just due to backlog, and possibly longer if the gov shuts down. It's an awful choice, and spouse may be additionally paralyzed because a) it's possible his org never implemented a RIF and his job would have been safe(ish). or b) his org was RIFed and any private sector opportunities are being fiercely pursued by all of his colleagues as well. or c) all of the above.

Anyway, as a commenter above said, assume money may not come for some time. health insurance should continue, with the estimated payments being covered by his estimated annuity. I'm sorry that your family is going through this.

Thank you so much for understanding, that's exactly the situation. The big reason we had to go "voluntary" was that we had only been on FEHB healthcare for a couple of years, and if he had waited for a RIF, he would have been pushed into non voluntary early retirement and would have lost his health care eligibility for the rest of his life. The "voluntary" option said that it waived the 5 year continuous coverage requirement. With forced early retirement happening either way, we chose the option that we thought wouldn't at least allow him to have health insurance for the decade or more until he could get Medicare and beyond.

It wasn't truly "voluntary" at all. Just the least dangerous option with what felt like a gun to the head. No one who didn't get all those confusing and contradictory emails and threats and meetings has any idea how confusing and scary it was to make these decisions at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

no, OPs husband was DRP/VERA eligible. they are an *unwilling* retiree. The problem is that anyone who is eligible for a pension will not receive a severance if RIFed. So a lot of people faced the awful choice of taking 4 months of DRP severance + early retirement, or holding on and possibly getting immediately terminated with no severance.

But now the spouse has not been able to find other work and any leave payout/annuity may be delayed for several months just due to backlog, and possibly longer if the gov shuts down. It's an awful choice, and spouse may be additionally paralyzed because a) it's possible his org never implemented a RIF and his job would have been safe(ish). or b) his org was RIFed and any private sector opportunities are being fiercely pursued by all of his colleagues as well. or c) all of the above.

Anyway, as a commenter above said, assume money may not come for some time. health insurance should continue, with the estimated payments being covered by his estimated annuity. I'm sorry that your family is going through this.

Estimated payment, which is not delayed, is very close to your final payment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.

He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now???

I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful.

That part was not needed. Let your husband be. Your nagging is not helpful. Lockdown (or threat of lockdown) has happened many times before. Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, just stay calm and live your life. It will get sorted out. OPM backlog of retirement paper is 6months+ meaning your DH will not see his final numbers until next year, most likely. However that does not mean you won’t get paid (pension checks) until then. You will get interim checks (estimated amounts) until then. So, please, step back and give him some space. The last thing he needs is his wife getting on his back. Give it a rest.

I'm not nagging him. But basic, BASIC information is utterly missing. Coooes of the paperwork he supposedly filed. (Did he file everything correctly? I have no idea. He has no idea. He doesn't remember.) It is an absolute black hole of information and he doesn't remember absolutely nothing to follow up, call, ask any human he knows, nothing.

I do understand that this is traumatic. It's a trauma for me, too. Our entire financial future has been blown up. I fully supported him leaving because the stress of having absolutely unqualified and reckless DOGE idiots trample over everything he had down for 3 decades was killing him. He is still young but after 3 decades becoming an expert in a niche field and assuming he would have that job for another 8-10 years until retirement, he can't even think yet about starting over. I try to keep my mouth shut as talking about it at all shuts him down.

But we do not have a big savings cushion. I have a steady job for now but that will be at risk too, with further federal funding disasters looming. We both have had major mid-life situations with elderly parents and an adult child that blew up our financial safety net, and we are now both mid-50s with school aged children and a mortgage and we cannot survive with just my income for very long.

I am venting here because I am NOT nagging him. Nagging does no good. He is in complete shut down. And he shuts down absolutely like this with all kinds of other crises in life and I always handle things, take the lead, call who needs to be called, do the paperwork that needs to be done, stanch the bleeding, call in the experts, research options, fix what I can. But in this case, I have no information, no contacts, no access to anything, no one to call, no copies of anything, no information whatsoever, and, yeah, it's stressful. I have no estimates, no idea how much health care will cost, no way to make a budget, no information whatsoever.

And yes, we have been on the brink of divorce for years, but I have tried to hold this ship together with duct tape and sheer will for a long time. But now I feel like the duct tape is over my eyes and the leaking ship with my kids on it is heading for...I have no idea...a steep falls? A tanker coming at is is at full speed? Calm waters and I'm making a crisis over nothing?

The black hole of guidance is what is terrifying.

PP you were responding to. Do you know if he remembers his agency's HR rep he worked with? If not, his manager still working? He must know how to reach out to HR, at least. Here is what I think is going on. For full disclosure, I am taking end of Sept DRP too. At my agency, HR checks all papers before sending it to OPM. I reached out to HR guy who processed my paper about a month ago and he told me it's all set and his manager is doing the final review/double check. They will not reach out to you unless something is wrong. His HR will probably submit the paper to OPM next pay period. If he wants, he can reach out to your HR and just ask "hey all looking good?" For shutdown (sorry i said "lockdown" even though it feels like a lockdown), we will probably go thru a CR which Govt does all the time. You should be fine.

Good response, but from what OP has said, I’m concerned that her DH never submitted his retirement papers. This is not any kind of fatal error if he’s eligible to retire, but step one is figuring this out. I took the HHS VERA this spring, and even though our poor HR people were completely overwhelmed, I ended up with a retirement counselor who guided me through the process very ably. I got my first annuity payment within three months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.

He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now???

I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful.

That part was not needed. Let your husband be. Your nagging is not helpful. Lockdown (or threat of lockdown) has happened many times before. Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, just stay calm and live your life. It will get sorted out. OPM backlog of retirement paper is 6months+ meaning your DH will not see his final numbers until next year, most likely. However that does not mean you won’t get paid (pension checks) until then. You will get interim checks (estimated amounts) until then. So, please, step back and give him some space. The last thing he needs is his wife getting on his back. Give it a rest.

I'm not nagging him. But basic, BASIC information is utterly missing. Coooes of the paperwork he supposedly filed. (Did he file everything correctly? I have no idea. He has no idea. He doesn't remember.) It is an absolute black hole of information and he doesn't remember absolutely nothing to follow up, call, ask any human he knows, nothing.

I do understand that this is traumatic. It's a trauma for me, too. Our entire financial future has been blown up. I fully supported him leaving because the stress of having absolutely unqualified and reckless DOGE idiots trample over everything he had down for 3 decades was killing him. He is still young but after 3 decades becoming an expert in a niche field and assuming he would have that job for another 8-10 years until retirement, he can't even think yet about starting over. I try to keep my mouth shut as talking about it at all shuts him down.

But we do not have a big savings cushion. I have a steady job for now but that will be at risk too, with further federal funding disasters looming. We both have had major mid-life situations with elderly parents and an adult child that blew up our financial safety net, and we are now both mid-50s with school aged children and a mortgage and we cannot survive with just my income for very long.

I am venting here because I am NOT nagging him. Nagging does no good. He is in complete shut down. And he shuts down absolutely like this with all kinds of other crises in life and I always handle things, take the lead, call who needs to be called, do the paperwork that needs to be done, stanch the bleeding, call in the experts, research options, fix what I can. But in this case, I have no information, no contacts, no access to anything, no one to call, no copies of anything, no information whatsoever, and, yeah, it's stressful. I have no estimates, no idea how much health care will cost, no way to make a budget, no information whatsoever.

And yes, we have been on the brink of divorce for years, but I have tried to hold this ship together with duct tape and sheer will for a long time. But now I feel like the duct tape is over my eyes and the leaking ship with my kids on it is heading for...I have no idea...a steep falls? A tanker coming at is is at full speed? Calm waters and I'm making a crisis over nothing?

The black hole of guidance is what is terrifying.

PP you were responding to. Do you know if he remembers his agency's HR rep he worked with? If not, his manager still working? He must know how to reach out to HR, at least. Here is what I think is going on. For full disclosure, I am taking end of Sept DRP too. At my agency, HR checks all papers before sending it to OPM. I reached out to HR guy who processed my paper about a month ago and he told me it's all set and his manager is doing the final review/double check. They will not reach out to you unless something is wrong. His HR will probably submit the paper to OPM next pay period. If he wants, he can reach out to your HR and just ask "hey all looking good?" For shutdown (sorry i said "lockdown" even though it feels like a lockdown), we will probably go thru a CR which Govt does all the time. You should be fine.

Good response, but from what OP has said, I’m concerned that her DH never submitted his retirement papers. This is not any kind of fatal error if he’s eligible to retire, but step one is figuring this out. I took the HHS VERA this spring, and even though our poor HR people were completely overwhelmed, I ended up with a retirement counselor who guided me through the process very ably. I got my first annuity payment within three months.

If he indicated taking VERA/DRP as of 9/30/25 and forgot to submit paperwork AND HR hasn't reached out to him... I'd say possibility of that happening is less than 0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a fed for two years, got DOGEd, got a new job right away, and was STILL very depressed. I still feel like crying if I think about it. Please, please be patient with your DH. This was an emotional and traumatic gut punch.

I think you need to get that checked out you shouldn't be depressed for a job this far into it

[Anonymous]

April VERA retiree here.

Your husbands approach sounds fine. Wait and see first. If there is a problem then worry about contacting someone.