how long does it take to separate from AD these days? My palace chase back in 2005 took about 3 months. Go ahead and get all your applications in now with availability dates in the summer. If you get a call by UAL/DAL you likely wont see a class date for at least 6 months anyway. Gets you plenty of time to get approved for VSP/Palace Chase or Front/straight separation with guard or reserve job later in the future. Get your app in now and get in line, and start heavily networking. Patience is important, but start the process now. Good luck to all, I've had my app in with DAL and UAL since 2006, updating monthly for the last 3 years