Can you retire with 20 years AFS plus 20 years reserve time before age 60?

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 11 Aug 2024 19:54:42 -0400

If you have 20 years AFS plus 20 years reserve time, can you retire before age 60.

Response by COL Randall C. made Aug 11 at 2024 8:27 PM

COL Randall C. — Sun, 11 Aug 2024 20:27:41 -0400

I assume you mean "start collecting retired pay immediately" instead of "retire", however your question is either missing some key information as it doesn't seem to make sense.

If you have 20 years AFS then you can retire and start receiving retirement pay immediately, regardless if you have reserve time or not (if you do, then the reserve time is converted to "equivalent AFS years"). So yes, you would be able to retire before 60.

Did you mean something else such as reduced retirement age based on certain categories of active duty time? If so, then that could be reduced down to 50 (no lower) if you have periods of qualifying active duty service days on or after Jan. 29, 2008.
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Response by LTC John Mohor made Aug 12 at 2024 12:33 AM

LTC John Mohor — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 00:33:56 -0400

Most of the Soldiers that might fall into this category without further details from you would be a reserve Soldier with prior active duty that over the course of both active and reserve time accumulated 20 years AFS while also accruing a number of years of reserve service. For the most part once you qualify for the 20 AFS you retire. That said there are exceptions to every rule here. Based on the mathematical formula Reserve Soldiers use having just under 20 AFS with 20 plus good years in the reserve would be 40 years for points which would increase ones retired monthly pay exponentially higher !

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 23 at 2024 11:36 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 11:36:43 -0400

Short answer is Yes.

I'm a reservist with 28 years of those I have a little over 20 years AFS. I'm in the process of retiring now but IPPSA has delayed things a bit. It's rare but it happens.