I know it took me six months to start the transition, to start to get your medical files, your last medical appointments, any specialist appointments tied up, and then start the paperwork.
The reason he is being released on April 1 is that the release procedures on the bases are changing. No one knows what the process is, so he's not able to get a jumpstart. If he started the release process under the old system, he'd have to redo it all again.
Our recommendation would be to go back to the old days when you had a clerk who was the subject expert in the release. They already knew the process, and they would guide you through the system and help you cross the t's and dot the i's.
The worst-case part of it is that if you make a mistake in your pension package, it could cost you a long time. I know that it took one person in my group eight months to get his first pension cheque.