First - Understand Your Timelines
OVERVIEW
Regardless of how you are leaving the military, you will have to go through the clearing process.
If you are separating, you may get the standard ten days or more to clear. Retirees and other service members may have up to thirty working days to clear.
PREPARE
Why on earth would you need to prepare a year out for clearing?
My experience: Let me contrast this with PCSing from one duty station to another. In many ways, your hand is held through the process; they tell you when you will arrive to get the initial brief, with your transportation, housing, gear turn-in, and other appointments already made. But, when you leave the service, no one is holding your hand. You would be lucky to get a list of building locations, phone numbers, and operating hours. As I started to clear the different offices, I usually found out that there was a mandatory brief, and if you were getting ou, you had to attend that brief before your paperwork was signed. Those 30 days felt like ten because all the clearing requirements competed with my internship, medical, and VA appointments.