Members of the National Guard, Air National Guard and military Reserves who have met the 20-year service requirement are generally eligible for receiving retirement benefits at age 60. However, the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorized early retirement benefits for members of the Reserve Corps who meet certain criteria. The criteria were later updated with the 2015 NDAA to make it easier for certain members of the Reserve Components to qualify for early retirement pay.
Note: Early Retirement only is only applicable to early retirement pay. TRICARE benefits eligibility still begins at age 60. See below for more information on how you can obtain affordable health care before TRICARE kicks in.
Under the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, members of the Reserve Component who served at least 90 days during a fiscal year on a deployment in support of overseas operations such as the Iraq or Afghanistan campaigns are authorized to retire three months early for each 90 day period they served in any given fiscal year. This only applies to members of the Guard or Reserves who participated in a qualifying active-duty mobilization after Jan. 28, 2008, which is the date the Act was signed into law. Service on or before this date does not count toward early retirement.
In January 2013, Congress expanded the criteria for early retirement by authorizing additional eligibility requirements. The new rules allow members of the Guard or Reserves to count activations for national emergencies including natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc. Members of the Reserve Components may also be eligible to retire early if they were in a Warrior Transition unit and were injured while mobilized for responses as mentioned above.
The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act further expanded benefits. The 2015 NDAA removed the requirement for the 90 days of active duty service to be performed within the same fiscal year – activations could cross into consecutive years. However, this only applies to activations beginning FY15 and later. Further details below.
Early Retirement from the Guard and Reserves
How to Qualify for Retirement from the Guard & Reserves
A member must serve a full 20-year service obligation before being eligible to retire from the National Guard or Reserves. Members can retire as soon as they have 20 good years of service, but they are considered gray area retirees until they reach age 60. In general, they will be eligible to access base activities such as the gym, MWR, commissary and base exchange privileges. They would only be eligible to begin receiving other retirement benefits at age 60, including pay and medical benefits.
How Early Retirement Works
To be eligible for early retirement, a member of the Reserve Corps must still complete the 20-year service requirement. How early they can retire depends on the number of active duty days they served on a mobilization after Jan. 28, 2008.
Early retirement reduces the eligibility age for receipt of Reserve retired pay by three months for each aggregate of 90 days of qualifying active duty performed within a fiscal year. For example, if you served 90-179 days in a fiscal year, you could only retire 3 months early. If you served 180 or more days in a fiscal year you could be eligible to retire 6 months early.
Important Note for Deployments that Started Prior to FY 2015
The entire 90 days must also be served during the fiscal year. If you served 90 consecutive days, but part of your mobilization was before the fiscal year end and part was during the new fiscal year, then the 90-day mobilization wouldn’t count toward early retirement. This makes the timing of the deployment very important when determining early retirement eligibility.
The good news is that your mobilization doesn’t need to be continuous. Your service would meet the early retirement requirements if you served 30 days at the beginning of the fiscal year and 60 days at the end of the fiscal year, so long as all 90 days were served within the same fiscal year. Many Guard and Reserve members are often mobilized for short time frames, including 15- or 30-day rotations.
You can add all of these together to meet the 90-day requirement, so long as they all fall within the same fiscal year. If you find yourself in a similar situation, then be sure to keep good track of your mobilization dates so you know whether or not your mobilizations will help you qualify for early retirement.
90 Day Early Retirement Periods are Cumulative
Servicemembers can qualify for more than one 90 day early retirement period in a Fiscal Year. For example, someone who served 90+ days in FY 2009, 180+ days in FY 2010, and 90+ days in FY 2011, and 90+ days in FY 2012 would be eligible to retire at age 58 and 9 months (five three month periods, or 1 year 3 months early). The only rule for the cumulative early retirement benefit is that members cannot retire before age 50.
Update 2015 National Defense Authorization Act
The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act makes it easier for Reserve Corps members to qualify for early retirement when called to active duty. Prior to FY 2015, members had to serve 90 days on active duty during a fiscal year in order to be eligible to retire early. Service time that crossed a fiscal year didn’t count toward early retirement unless they had 90 or more days during a fiscal year, making the timing of the deployment very important when determining early retirement eligibility.
The new law allows that time to cross into the consecutive fiscal years. However, this only applies to deployments that started after 30 September, 2014 (or deployments that began in FY 2015).
This law is not retroactive to 28 January, 2008, which is the date of the original early retirement rule. So to recap:
- Early retirement qualifying service (28 January 2008 – 30 September 2014): Must serve 90 days on active duty within a fiscal year.
- Early retirement qualifying service (01 October 2014 – present): Must serve 90 days on active duty; service time can cross into consecutive fiscal years.
You can read more about this update in the following resources:
Qualifying and Non-Qualifying Service for Early Retirement
Qualifying Service
Most active duty time counts for early retirement, including deployments in support of overseas operations, mobilizations for natural emergencies which are authorized by the governor and paid for by federal funds, and other active duty service periods including training and attending military schools. However, not all service counts toward early retirement.
Non-Qualifying Service
You must have been a member of the Guard or Reserves when you were activated for the qualifying service. Members who originally joined the service as active duty then later transitioned to the Guard or Reserves are not able to count their previous active duty service toward early retirement.
Other ineligible Guard or Reserve duty includes actions such as performing weekend drills, 2 weeks annual training, those in full-time AGR or TAR status, muster duty, those who were activated for courts-martial or disciplinary reasons, and those who were listed as not participating at a satisfactory level.
Meeting Eligibility Requirements is Only Part of the Battle
It’s up to the member to be aware of these changes and file for early retirement. In these instances, you will need to have proof of your activation, including the reason and the duration of time you were activated.
This is where your mobilization orders and DD Form 214 are essential. As you know, your DD Form 214 is issued when you are released from active duty service. This is a different form than your DD Form 256, which is the Honorable Discharge paperwork you receive when you separate from the Guard or Reserves.
Keep Good Records of Your Service
Your mobilization orders should state the reason for your mobilization or activation, as will your DD Form 214. In order to qualify for the early retirement under the new rules, you will need to have either Title 10 or Title 32 orders with the following annotation: 12301(a), 12301(d), 12301(h), 12302, 12304, 12305 or 12306.
Here is a reference from the US Army that covers other forms:
AD, for this purpose, means service pursuant to a call or order to AD on orders specifying, as the authority for such orders, a provision of law referred to in section 101(a) (13)(B), and performed under section 688, 12301 (a), 12302, 12304, 12305, 12406, and chapter 15 (insurrection), or under section 12301 (d) of Title 10 USC. Active Guard Reserve (AGR) duty under section 12310 of Title 10 USC, will not be included as service on active duty for determining eligibility for reduced age retired pay for non-regular service.
Active service includes service on AD as defined in subparagraph 6.5.2.2 of DoDI 1215.07, and Full-time National Guard when under a call to active service by a governor and authorized by the President or the Secretary of Defense under section 502(f) or 115 and 502 (f) of Title 32 USC for purposes of responding to either a national emergency declared by the President or a national emergency supported by Federal funds.
Because much of this is up to you filing the required paperwork on time, you need to keep excellent records. If you notice discrepancies in your paperwork, contact your unit immediately to have your records corrected. If you have since left your unit and are no longer serving, you may need to contact the National Archives. We have an article on requesting military records.
If in doubt, try speaking with your unit personnel section, or try contacting your HHQ personnel section for further clarification.
Early Retirement is For Pay; Other Benefits Come at Age 60
While your deployments can start the clock earlier for your retirement pay and benefits such as access to the commissary or base exchange, early retirees will have to wait until age 60 to be eligible for certain other benefits, such as TRICARE Prime benefits and Space-A travel eligibility.
TRICARE for Life eligibility begins at age 65.
Please see this article for more information about health care options:
- Health Insurance Options After Leaving the Military
- Health Care Options for Retired Guard or Reserve Members
- VA Health Care Eligibility
The above references will help you plan for your health care needs while awaiting TRICARE Prime eligibility, and later, TRICARE for Life.
What is frustrating here is the lack of clarity regarding 502(f) orders for National Guard members. “Active service includes service on AD as defined in subparagraph 6.5.2.2 of DoDI 1215.07, and Full-time National Guard when under a call to active service by a governor and authorized by the President or the Secretary of Defense under section 502(f) or 115 and 502 (f) of Title 32 USC for purposes of responding to either a national emergency declared by the President or a national emergency supported by Federal funds.” It seems logical that a National Guard Soldier whose year to year ADOS orders and whose primary responsibility was to assist in the mobilization of NG troops for the National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks (Proclamation 7463) (still in effect) that was, and still is, funded by OCO (federal funds) would be found eligible to retire early under that rule. As… Read more »
Hello Ryan, First I wish all the veterans here the best of health and pray you get the benefits you deserve. My question is this: I was medically retired early as a Reservist. I do receive retirement and VA but the VA is taken out of my pay. I had 17.6 years in at the time of my retirement. Will I ever qualify for the time reduction. I don’t know if I would ever qualify to have the VA payments stop being subtracted from my retirement pay? I was on orders from 2008 to 2014.
Ryan – quick question: I was recalled for 2 years of active duty (July 2008 – July 2010) while I was a member of the Retired Reserve (having completed all my Reserve time, retiring in 2007).
Is there any chance I could be eligible for an early drop?
So, question. I have 17 years combined active duty and Air National Guard duty. I am also a federal employee. I currently have 10 years working for the department of Veterans Affairs. When I hired on about 10 years ago I began buying my active duty time back. I am currently 3 years away from my 20 years in the national guard for retirement (7 of these years are active duty years). I was told that if I retire from the national guard using combined time that I CANNOT use the active duty time twice using it as additional years as federal employment and that it is a waste that I bought back that time. On the other hand, folks have told me that I will be able to receive my 20 year retirement from the national guard and receive a federal retirement from the department of Veterans Affairs plus… Read more »
I have a question and maybe you can help because no one seems to know an answer to this. My uncle was given a honorable discharge thinking he had satisfied his 20 years total service. He was active duty for some and the South Carolina National guard for the rest. He was even invited to retirement dinners and ceremonies. However, he never received his 20 year letter/certificate when he turned 60 or 62. We began investigating and it was not until 5 years later that we found out he did not receive a letter because he received a honorable discharge at 19 years, 8 months, 20 days. He was called back on active duty for 2 months in 1991 to train soldiers for the first Gulf War. Now, by his total points, he has enough to get retirement pay. However, he is a couple of months short for the 20… Read more »
Hopefully this message reaches you.
I was in the Ca ARNG and durning most of that time, I was a dual status federal technician. Does my army/guard time as well as my federal time both qualify me for my now very new federal employee position in regards to retirement?
I am in the Texas National Guard and I have been activated through the president for operation guardian support.
I have 2 comments. We were told that we could earn post 911 benefits but I found out that was just a lie.
I also want to know if my days on orders title 32 502f are eligible for early retirement and if they are, do I need 20 years or could I retire in 18.5.
Thanks
Is there a good system in place on the reserve side of the house to explain retirement?
I am active duty and thinking about transitioning to the reserves. I will have 10 years of active time when I transition. I would have assumed that my 10 years active time would count towards the early retirement age but an article I read elsewhere said active duty time that was obtained while not in a reserve/guard unit does not count towards any early retirement. Honestly, reading and trying to calculate what I would get at the end.
No offense but I really don’t trust talking to my reserve guy at branch without knowing if they truly understand the retirement system. Even on the active side, there are guys who don’t understand BRS and give very poor advice to Soliders.
I retired from the Army National Guard in 2013 with 30 years of service. I am eligible for retirement at age 57 1/2. What is the time frame to submit my retirement paperwork for full retirement?
I’m the odd ball here in that I want to stay in the Army Reserve for as long as possible and retire at the max age. We in the enlisted Army Reserve have no “Retention Control Points” (which means you could technically continue serving as a PVT E-1 for 40 years or until mandatory retirement age!) My question is what is the mandatory retirement age for enlisted? I have always believed it was age 60, however a couple months ago there was an article saying that the regular army enlisted mandatory retirement age was increased from 55 to age 62. I haven’t found any other article about this and wonder if this is true and if it applies to the reserves? I am a 51 year old SSG E-6 in great physical shape with 1 year early retirement eligibility (age 59) with the goal of remaining in the reserves to… Read more »
Gray area retirees (retired, but not eligible for retirement pay) are provided a Red (DD Form 2) ID card. Normally at age 60 they transition to the Blue ID card (“for retired members eligible for retirement pay”). However, if the Reserve retiree is eligible for retirement pay before age 60 due to a deployments after 2008, are they also eligible for a Blue ID card?
Ryan, I need your help to understand.
I did 4 active duty. And 4 1/2 year Reserves before going back Active duty. I was approved for retirement Dec 2019- now my retirement was rejected stating none of my reserve time counts except the 9 months I was mobilize.
1996-2000 active duty
2001-2005 reserves mobilized 04-05 for 9 months.
2005-present active duty
I just want to double check.
Thank you!!
Hello, just an FYI for those applying for early retirement. I retired from the Air National Guard and eligible for 1 year, to start receiving pay only at 59. First off you have to apply on your own and have documentation. I applied 2 months prior to what should be my new retirement date. Here is a copy of the email I received from ARPC. Do not plan on receiving your retirement pay on the date you are eligible. Read the last 2 sentences. I’m between the 120 to 180 days and have not received anything other than this email. This email is to inform you that your retirement documents (DD Form 2656 and ARPC Form 83) submitted to ARPC have been received and delivered to a retirement technician for review. During this time, your forms will be reviewed for accuracy. If no errors are found, your record will undergo… Read more »
I did state active duty on the border mission in California from June of 2006 until July of2008 and a deployment to Afghanistan from 2009-2010. Does state orders count towards early retirement? I retired in 2012 with 26 good years inservice and am currently 57. How much longer do I have to wait until my retirement kicks in?
Hi Ryan, I have spoke with an ANG member at headquarters to try to get my head wrapped around the ANG retirement system. The points, early retirement, etc, are very confusing and misunderstood by their own members it seems! Here is my situation. My enlistment is up next year and I will be at my 15 year mark active duty AF. We are considering me going guard at this time due to my children’s needs as we are mil-to-mil and family has been suffering. From the explanation received, I will be at 5,475 pts for ANG retirement and need a remaining 1,725 to retire early. He stated traditional guard gets around 60 pts a year but that can increase with active duty time. If I did 5 years traditional and family life is recovered, husband is retired, etc, and I go active duty guard for 4, I should draw the… Read more »
Do Navy Definite Recall Orders qualify? I was recalled for 30 months.
I was on ADSW orders from Nov 2008 – Sep 2009 under the authority of Title 10 USC 12301 (D). I looked on my DD214, it doesn’t have say Title 10 USC 12301 (D) anywhere. Will my orders be enough to get me the 9 months of early retirement, or do I need to find a way to get my DD214 updated?
Thanks
I searched the 2015 NDAA for retirement and I found this: SEC. 625. MODIFICATION OF PER-FISCAL YEAR CALCULATION OF DAYS OF CERTAIN ACTIVE DUTY OR ACTIVE SERVICE TO REDUCE ELIGIBILITY AGE FOR RETIREMENT FOR NON-REGULAR SERVICE. Section 12731(f)(2)(A) of title 10, United States Code, is amended– (1) by inserting “, subject to subparagraph (C),” after “shall be reduced”; and (2) by striking “so performs in any fiscal year after such date, subject to subparagraph (C)” and inserting “serves on such active duty or performs such active service in any fiscal year after January 28, 2008, or in any two consecutive fiscal years after September 30, 2014”. Does that mean that 90 day blocks must be within two consecutive fiscal years or has that rule been changed by a more recent law?
My understanding is that MPA orders funded through Active Duty as part of a TFI association also qualifies you to roll back your retirement. For instance. I have taken 1095 days of title 10 MPA orders in the last 4 years. And can roll back my retirement approximately 3 years.
I retired Jan 2017, 20 years Guard and 12 years Active Guard which started 2005, Title 32 consecutively. I did 2 tours, Afghanistan and Kuwait, 8 (including deactivating processes)months each time. I’m 55 and applied for early retirement pay but nothing thus far. Is there something I’m missing?
Cynthia
Im 54, when I was 50, after twenty three years of active and National Guard Service, I was Involuntary Retired from the National Guard bt State Board for unrelated service illness, but at the time I was living at the IDT site and working as a temporary technician. Could I recieve any state or federal disability or apply for early retirement.
Hey, My unit in the Air Force reserves was not mobilized, but I did active duty in support of everything after 9/11, after Jan 2008. So from Feb 08-Sep 08, and Nov 09-Sep 10, am I eligible for early retirement?
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2008 Authorized the Reserve Retired Pay Eligibility Age to be reduced below age 60,
Well this Act is Hogwash, who does it Really Benifit?? How about us that served during 2003-2007 during the real OIF and retired. I enlisted in 1981, I’m 54 years old and served 27 years, deployed 2 times in support of OIF. Why didn’t they retro this back to include those who served during the beginning of the OIF when it counts, not after, just another way the government let us done.
Guess I’ll be waiting 6 more years unless they screw us out of that retirement age as well.
Thanks for your service as they say….
Ryan- Our Guard unit served in Kuwait in 2015 under orders stating Title 10 USC 12302 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, yet our S-1 shop is saying we don’t earn early retirement qualifying periods because “Kuwait doesn’t count for that…” Do you know if service in Kuwait does not, in fact, qualify for early retirement credit? Appreciate your efforts in support of our military!
Ryan, I am an Army Reservist coming off of my last active duty tour. Based on my active duty time since 2008, I am eligible to collect a reserve pension (minus health benefits) in approximately nine months (age 53). However, I also have 22 months of federal civil service time in a term position that did not give me “status” as a federal employee. My plan is to get a federal civilian job, buy my active duty time and eventually retire as a federal civilian after serving at least five years as a federal civilian. In order buy all of my active duty time, do I have to land a federal civilian job in the next 9 months (before I start collecting my reserve pension at age 53) or can I be collecting my reserve pension and still buy my all of my active duty time toward a federal civilian… Read more »
Is there anywhere that I can get clarification that military schools count towards the early retirement age? I was in 3 year 5 month Army school from 2013-2016 and my DD 214 says 502(f) Title 32. Please provide any guidance. Thanks:)
Ryan – help? I’m divorced and my ex is still in the National Guard approaching 30 years active/guard service. Under the divorce decree I will collect part of his retirement pay as of the date he becomes eligible to receive benefits as if retired – even if he is still serving at that age (i.e. when he turns 60 I collect a portion of his retirement pay even if he has not retired yet). As we do not speak, nor do I have access to any of his records showing his active duty for these years (though I know he has served on active duty several times), how do I find out if I qualify to receive payments based on an early retirement date?
Ray, Im 49 and just received a 100% combined disability rating from the VA. I am turning 29 years of service in the Army National Guard. I am not sure if they will medically retire me when I let hem know im 100% disabled. If they do medically retire me can I apply for my military pension early ?
Good Day Sir, I enlisted in the national guard in 1990 and I also severed 8 years on active duty. Okay, my ratings from the Army and the VA are 100% do combat in Iraq. I was put back on active duty for medical discharge from the Army for a period time. So on 10 oct 2014 i was finely medical discharged. So, i started collecting my retirement pay after 24 years of service, on june 1st 2016 i get a letter from DFAS stating that ” That i am no longer going to receive my retirement pay and they are also stating that I own them x amount of money. When I had gone through the whole process of retiring I was told by Jag officers and among other that i was entitled to my retirement pay. Try to figure that one out if you can
Please help, I’m a Disabled Combat Veteran who served our country mostly as a national gaurdsman. I did serve 2 1/2 yrs. active duty. I have an 80% rating from the Army as well as being Medically Retired and placed on the PDRL, plus 100% rating from the VA as well as being rated as being Unemployable by the VA. Until this month I have been receiving VA disability compensation payments and Military disability compensation payments concurrently since 1 March 13. Now all of a sudden the rude people at dfas.mil claim that I no longer qualify to receive both benefits so they have completely cancelled any and all future payments. Please help. I don’t know what to do. Can they legally and legitimately Cancel and Take my benefits from me even though my injuries were all sustained in a combat zone? We’re talking about $1900.00 a month.
Is there currently any bills out there to change the credit for early reserve retirement pay for time served to 2001 , where it should be instead of 2008. Very unfair for the veterans who served prior to 2008!
Thank you for your research on all of these questions. Here is mine. I believe I understand the crux of my National Guard retirement. 21 “good” years, 25 for pay, deployment in 2003, retired in 2003. I have just hit 59 and am within 1 year of drawing compensation. What steps should I be taking now to make sure of a smooth beginning in 4/17 when I reach age 60 ? At age 60 I will have 2 dependemts at home (wife and 19 y/o). I do not have the grey area ID card nor my family. Any guidance ? Thanks agains so much for your work on these questions . I still am in amazement whey the early retirement benefits do not apply to pre-2008 deployments !
Ryan, so what happens if 30+ years of service is completed, how much is that compared to active duty? 66% of base pay?
Ryan,
So if you fail to apply for that early retirement does that mean you lose it?
Ryan,
I retired from the Puerto Rico Army National Guard on 2011 before that I was a weekend soldier and I went on ADSW Title 10 USC 12301 (d) below are the dates of tour. For some reason my state is saying that I don’t qualify for the early reduce retirement pay. I am a little confuse with this all because it has the authority but they say it don’t have the campaign. here with ADSW orders dates I did.
1 Oct 2007-30 Sep 2008 – Korea
1 Oct 2008- 30 Sep 2009 – Hawaii
1 Oct 2009 – 30 Sep 2010 – MacDill AFB, Florida
1 Oct 2010- 25 Feb 2011 – MacDill AFB, Florida
All in support as an Administrator for Units where they have their soldier mobilized. Please clarified. Thank you.
Ryan,
Really great information! I had thought I only qualified for about 1 year early, however, based on the information you have provided, I actually qualify for 3.25 years early. That’s pretty awesome and not an insubstantial amount of money. I’ve still got 15 years or so to wait, but that is great news.
My thanks for not only researching and writing the article, but also for continuing to answer the comments for two years beyond. Great work!
-Rob
MSG (P), USAR
Ryan, I’m trying to locate definitive guidance regarding the 90-day periods crossing FYs. I have searched the 2015 NDAA and not located it. Can you point me in the right direction? Do you know if it has been published in a DODI or where in the NDAA it references this particular item?
Appreciate the help!
Sir, where do we submit or to whom do we submit the DD214’s to so as to have our retirement age adjusted?
Retired USAR in 2012 – dates of service under Title 10 Orders:
Earlier Mobilizations in 2003 – 2005 out of eligibility
11/13/2006 to 01/31/2008
12/08/2008 to 12/07/2009
03/07/2010 to 01/25/2012
Confusing!! I’ll just wait to see how much time I get awarded! However I was wondering if the pay will stay the same as if I didn’t use the “Early Drop”? Thanks
So all of us that served from 2003-2004 will get nothing! So us who went first get nothing.
Here is a portion of the original report from 2008, The Department of Defense has issued new guidelines for early receipt of retired pay for members of the reserve components. Instead of having to wait until age 60 to receive Reserve retired pay, eligible members may receive retired pay prior to age 60 but not before age 50. Under interim changes to Department of Defense Instruction 1215.07, Service Credit for Reserve Retirement, issued under a law passed by Congress effective Jan. 28, 2008, reserve component members are able to reduce the age at which they are eligible to receive retirement pay by three months for each cumulative period of 90 days served on active duty in any fiscal year. Under the new law, members eligible to receive retired pay earlier than age 60 must still wait until age 60 to receive health-care benefits. Involuntary mobilization and voluntary active duty in… Read more »
Dear Ryan,retire from Army reserve 2004 with 22years,serve in Iraq 2003-2004,is there any early retirement time off for being in a war zone,toward retirement before age 60. Thankyou David
None the times apply unless it is January 2008 and later.
I was just going to point out the same thing regarding the number of 90 day periods possible per year. This article is clearly inconsistent with the articles posted when the law was enacted. Unless something changed, and if it did, then that should be highlighted too. Clarification is needed here.
Hi Ryan,
The part about only being able to reduce retirement age by 90 days per year is incorrect. For each cumulative 90 day period, you get 90 days reduction in retirement age. There is no restriction on the number of 90 day periods per year. If you serve one year on a qualifying order, you do indeed get 360 days of early retirement. If the rule was as you state, you would have to serve 40 years to get the maximum early retirement age of 50.
“Eligibility reduced below age 60 by 3 months for EACH cumulative
total of 90 eligible days of active duty service per fiscal year”
Ryan, I’ve read the article in its entirety but I’m still confused on one part, so I hope you can excuse my question. I’m 30 years old currently serving as Active Duty Army and have so since I first enlisted (about ten years now). If I chose to ETS from Active Duty but also simultaneously transfer into the Reserves or National Guard, my times spent on AD will not count towards the retirement? Meaning, I will still have to wait until age 60 like everyone else to receive my full benefits (pay and all)?
Ryan, the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act allows Guard and Reserve retirees, regardless of age, BX and Commissary privileges. Other “Gray Area” benefits include…
Access to military installations
Class VI access (beverages)
Limited space available travel
Post/Base recreation facilities
Temporary Lodging (space available)
Post/Base Theater
I thought that Bush signed into law a bill similar to what you are talking about. As I recall the bill stated that on a 1 for 1 basis every month of active duty time for a Guardsman or Reservist retroactive to 9/11 subtracted 1 month from 60 at which we could start to draw our retirement. What happened to this? I was looking forward to pulling my retirement pay at about age 56 1/2 based on nearly 3 1/2 years of orders leading up to my retirement in Jan 2008.
There is a typo in the first part…misspelled count…
Question: As of what month & year does the recall/mobiliation expanded eligibility start? That is, is there a month/year that any recall prior to that date is not eligible for the new early retirement date calculation?