Posted on Apr 18, 2021
Is going into the IRR after 17 years of service in the National Guard an option to complete the time and still retire at 20 years?
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I am coming up on 17 years of service, all Nat. Guard with two deployments under my belt. I have around 3 1/2 - 4 years left on my contract (I'd have to look to be exact) and am in school full-time. I am burnt out with fighting with command over school and drill dates that constantly change to suit the needs of one particular section and there are not and slots to transfer to. Could I transfer to the IRR to complete the time in my contract and still retire at 20 years?
IRR
Retention
Retirement
Career Counselor
Career Advice
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 10
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I don't think the IRR is what you want. You may want to look into IMA where you have a lot of flexibility to do your drills and orders all at once. Some reserve units will let you do that as well.
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LTC (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see) Another option would be to network around the guard, maybe to the state Headquarters or training school (anyone with a day to day mission) to fund a unit that doesn't use the traditional drill schedule or is more flexible with drills.
Best of luck.
Best of luck.
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You can transfer into the IRR but you won't earn the points for retirement. You could always finish school and return from the IRR to finish your retirement.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
SFC (Join to see) - That's certainly true since they eliminated the points for correspondence courses. With the 15 membership points, you need to come up with another 35 for a good year. Finding a cooperative unit that will let you drill for points in about the only current method. 9 drill weekends a year would do it, but if I showed up for Drill, why not get paid for it?
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COL David Turk
CPT Lawrence Cable - does the Army still have RTU’s? You could get points through them (in the past).
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CPT Lawrence Cable
COL David Turk - As far as I know, but I haven't been select reserve for a long time too. But a quick search still indicates that they are out there.
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COL David Turk
CPT Lawrence Cable - way back, I belonged to a RTU while in an IMA slot. The points were nice, but I enjoyed the mission of the unit and the members (small mix of officers and enlisted).
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What is the rush to get 20 unless you are old? Do what you need to do now to get school done (staying in the good graces of the NG) and come back later to finish to 20. Generally speaking you do not get much in the means of benefits from the NG until close to 60 and you probably have plenty of years between now and then to finish school and get your 20 in.
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