Why Reservists can't draw retirement until they are 60 yrs of age even if they retire at, say, 40 yrs old?

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 16:52:25 -0500

I do not know if this has been brought up on RP before, but can someone who is Retention or similar explain why Reservists can'd draw retirement until they are 60 yrs of age even if they retire at, say, 40 yrs old? I have asked many a person, but I have never received any real feedback.

Response by SGT Steven Eugene Kuhn MBA made Feb 10 at 2015 4:53 PM

SGT Steven Eugene Kuhn MBA — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 16:53:36 -0500

Good question, I never understood this either!

Response by CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 19 at 2015 10:03 AM

CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 10:03:15 -0500

It's purely a budget decision. Only a certain amount of people make it to an active duty retirement. But in the ANG something like 40% of my Wing had 20+ years of service. If they offered them a check to go away versus another deployment they would be gone. Retirement pay at age 60 gets the number of recipients to a manageable number in Niger terms. Too many get a check; the checks have to be cut or stopped. This is why a few years ago they approved to reduce the retirement age based on the number of days deployed. Some who deployed a lot get it a little earlier. It was the best they could afford at the time.

Response by CW4 Russ Hamilton (Ret) made Sep 8 at 2015 6:55 PM

CW4 Russ Hamilton (Ret) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 18:55:58 -0400

If I may quote 1SG Miles Bizzell: "The retirement rule is National Guard or reservist can retire after 20 years of service. This doesn't mean that you have served 7,300 days in uniform. The rule states at 60 you can get that check, they can and will take off a maximum of 5 years that you were deployed, so if you were deployed active for 5 years you can get that check at 55." Here's the catch regarding the "take off a maximum of 5 years that you were deployed" rule: The only deployed time that counts is that time occurring AFTER 2008 - deployment time prior to 2008 doesn't count.

To further address RC/NG retirement, once you receive your 20 year letter, you can retire. You become a "grey area" retiree meaning you are retired but only receiving limited benefits such as the commissary, PX, space A flights and so on. You don't get full retirement benefits (like an active duty retiree with at least 20 years) until age 60, unless you have qualifying deployment time that could reduce the age (up to 55). An exception to this would be if you served 20 years in AGR status, then you could retire with full benefits after 20 years.

Response by LTC Mark Overberg made Jan 2 at 2018 9:37 PM

LTC Mark Overberg — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 21:37:26 -0500

Retirement age is determined by federal law. For the Reserve Components, the law says (I’m paraphrasing here) you must have 20 “good” years for a length of service retirement (15 years for medical retirement) and then you qualify for retirement at age 60. If you have qualifying service, you can retire as young as age 50 (not 55) but qualifying service must have been accumulated after the date set in law (in 2008).