Requirements to Retire as a Commissioned Officer

Table of Contents

1. Overview of Military Retirement Qualifications
2. Qualifying for Retirement as a Commissioned Officer
3. Commissioned Officer Retirement Pay Grades
1. Retiring at O-1 Through O-3
2. Retiring at O-4 and Higher
3. Retiring at a Lower Grade & Reduction in Rank
4. Navy and Marine Corps Exceptions
4. How to Prepare for Retirement as a Commissioned Officer 
1. Scenario One: Passing Up Orders for Retirement
2. Scenario Two: Involuntary Separation
3. Be Informed

Qualifying for a military retirement plan can be complicated, especially when your service status changes throughout your career. Complicating factors can include changing branches of the military, transitioning between active duty and the Guard or Reserves, or earning your commission after starting your career as an enlisted member.

Commissioned officers typically earn more, which is why it could be more beneficial to retire as one.

Let’s examine the service requirements for retiring as a commissioned officer and possible exceptions to these rules. This can be a complicated topic, so it’s recommended to visit your Human Resources or Personnel office or even your base JAG if you have specific questions about your career or retirement eligibility. 

*This article primarily applies to service members who were previously enlisted, then later earned their commission and remained in the service through retirement.

Overview of Military Retirement Qualifications

In most cases, active-duty military members must serve 20 years to be eligible for normal military retirement. However, there are some exceptions, including the Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA), which allows members to retire with as few as 15 years of service.

TERA is only offered when the military needs to selectively reduce the size of its force. It is generally only offered in specific branches and then only for targeted career fields and service classes (years of service).

The military also has medical retirements, which are pretty complex and often unique to the individual. It’s important to understand that retiring from active duty and retiring from the Guard or Reserves have different guidelines.

Qualifying for Retirement as a Commissioned Officer

To retire from active duty as a commissioned officer, you must have 20 total years of service and hold a commissioned officer title for at least 10 of those years. When authorized by the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of your military branch can reduce the 10-year requirement to no less than eight years, though it is not as common. However, the overall 20-year requirement is usually a hard guideline unless you are authorized to retire early under TERA. (Source: Title 10 U.S. Code § 9311).

To retire from the National Guard or Reserves as a commissioned officer, you must have 20 qualifying years of service (Good Years) and be a commissioned officer at the time of retirement. If you have 20 years of service but are under the age of 60, you may be eligible for gray area retirement. (Source: 10 U.S. Code § 12731).

Notice there is no language requiring the member to have a certain number of years of commissioned service. Members retiring as officers in the Reserve Component simply need to meet the 20-year service requirement. Members may incur a service commitment when they commission, so they may be required to fulfill this prior to voluntarily retiring. There are also time-in-grade requirements to retire under a certain grade.

Commissioned Officer Retirement Pay Grades

Retirement pay is heavily determined by your pay grade. In addition to the service requirement minimums discussed above, there are also guidelines regarding the amount of time officers must spend at a certain rank to retire in that pay grade. That being said, some military officers want to serve over the minimum requirements to increase their rank. 

Most military members retire by age 60. However, the DoD enforces a “mandatory” retirement age for commissioned officers outlined under Title 10 U.S. Code. Commissioned officers and warrant officers below general and flag grades may be able to serve until age 62, while general and flag officers are allowed to serve until the first day of the month following their 64th birthday. Officers in O-9 and O-10 positions may have retirement deferred until age 66 by the SECDEF or until age 68 by the President. 

If you want to improve your rank before retirement, you must try and meet the pay grade minimums before you meet the mandatory retirement age. Officers should familiarize themselves with DOPMA and ROPMA rules to determine how long they can serve.

Retiring at O-1 Through O-3

To retire at the pay grade of O-1 through O-3,  you generally must meet the retirement eligibility requirements listed above and have at least six months of satisfactory service at that grade.

Retiring at O-4 and Higher

To retire at a pay grade of O-4 through O-6, officers must have served on active duty in that grade for at least three years. However, the Secretary of Defense may authorize the Secretary of a military department to reduce this period to no less than two years.  

There are additional rules regarding when the Secretary of Defense may authorize members to retire with less than three years’ time in grade, as well as a maximum number of individuals in each rank that can retire with fewer than three years’ time in grade in a given year.

Additional rules apply for retiring at the pay grade of O-7 through O-10. More information can be found here.

Retiring at a Lower Grade & Reduction in Rank

Officers retiring without the required time in service for the specific rank will be retired in the next lower grade in which they served satisfactorily for no less than six months.

It’s also possible to receive a reduction in grade for bad conduct, conduct unbecoming an officer, or for other administrative reasons. Speak with your JAG if that situation applies to you, as they will be able to provide personalized information specific to your case.

Navy and Marine Corps Exceptions

The U.S. Navy, and by extension, the U.S. Marine Corps, follows the federal law for retirement pay grade. However, they also have their own policy regarding retirement rank. 

According to OPNAVINST 1811.3A, Navy Policy has the following Time in Grade requirements:

• O-1 and O-2: 6 months
• O-3 and O-4: 2 years (up to 18 months may be waived)
• O-5 and higher: 3 years, subject to waivers allowed by law

In other words, the only changes are for O-3 and O-4. Members retiring at O-3 must serve two years TIG instead of the minimum of six months required by law. Officers retiring at O-4 must serve only two years instead of the three required by federal law. However, COMNAVPERSCOM may waive up to 18 months of the two-year period for both O-3 and O-4 personnel.

In short, it’s important to review federal law, but you should also verify the policies of your branch of service.

How to Prepare for Retirement as a Commissioned Officer 

Don’t let retirement sneak up on you. Make sure you know your service class, when you will be eligible to retire, and at which grade you should retire. Understanding these requirements can have a massive impact on your retirement pay.

Let’s review two common scenarios you should think about – particularly as you progress in your military career.

Scenario One: Passing Up Orders for Retirement

When you are in the latter stages of your career, you are often at the mercy of your functional or career advisor. They will often send you where the need is the greatest, whether or not it is a desirable career move or your preferred location. And since they know you need to follow orders to remain in the military, they have you in a tough spot.

This is where you need to decide whether or not to accept or decline the orders. 

Accepting the orders means you pick up your life and move while declining your orders pretty much means game over for your military career. It’s actually not uncommon for military members to receive orders after they are eligible for retirement and decide they would rather retire than uproot their families for another cross-country or international move.

This is why understanding your service requirements is so important. If you are a prior-enlisted officer with 20 years of active duty service but fewer than 10 years as a commissioned officer retiring before you’ve met the requirement means accepting a big cut in pension. This is also applicable if you were recently promoted but haven’t met the Time in Grade requirements. 

Only you can decide whether or not taking those orders is worth the additional income (and stress) that comes with accepting new orders. The key is to be aware of your options and the impact of accepting or declining.

Scenario Two: Involuntary Separation

In a perfect world, military members would be able to remain on duty until they are ready to move on. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work, and the military does, from time to time, force people out of the military through involuntary separations and forced retirement.

For example, in 2014, the Army forced a group of prior enlisted active duty officers to retire with 20 years of service or under TERA rules. Unfortunately, while some of them were qualified to retire, several of them did not qualify to retire as an officer because they did not have 8 years of commissioned service (the Secretary of the Army had authorized commissioned officers with less than 10 years of service to retire as commissioned officers during this period).

In effect, these Soldiers had been rewarded with career advancement for their exceptional service. Then, they were later forced out due to Force Shaping requirements and were not allowed to retire as officers because they did not have the requisite service time. 

As you might imagine, this did not go over well. Thankfully, enough attention was raised about this issue, and after a Congressional inquiry, the Army allowed the members to retire as officers.

Be Informed

As our good friend, GI Joe said, “Knowing is half the battle.”

This information can help you make important and valuable career decisions and help you avoid costly mistakes. 

While scenario two is outside of your control, being aware of this situation gives you the information you need to file an appeal or work with your JAG to see if anything can be done to avoid missing out on the retirement benefits you have earned.

Photo Credit: Photo by Master Sgt. John Hughel. This work is in the Public Domain. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

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