So I sat through the Palace chase brief the other night, there is no timeline min-max. They say for Officers when you're given the option of your separation date they want at least 180 days because the paperwork has so many wickets to go through (approx. 4 months) that by the time it is approved with TAPS, out-processing, and terminal leave you may not have time to make your separation date. Bottom line, give yourself more time than you think you'll need. Other than that, to squash any rumint, no one can flat out deny you other than the separation authority so the whole "anything more than 6-9 months is automatically denied" is trash. Duly noted that in principle doesn't always equal in practice.