Does Reserve and active time count for retirement if coming out of active duty?

PO2 Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 24 May 2022 23:00:20 -0400

Does Reserve and active time count for retirement if I am going to be HYT'd out of Navy...I will have 22 years on my LES. 16 active years with 6 Reserve years. I can't seem to find a clear answer on this anywhere...nobody on my ship knows and I called PSD--they don't know how to answer either...do I have to wait until I’m 60? Or is it less b/c of all the active duty time? I was stationed overseas in Afghanistan while in the Reserves--does that count as an active year? I'm so confused. Can someone please help me make sense of this?
Thanks guys.

Response by SGM Mikel Dawson made May 25 at 2022 12:07 AM

SGM Mikel Dawson — Wed, 25 May 2022 00:07:21 -0400

Yep it all counts. A little differently if part Reserve than if total Active, but you get credit for it all. I would suggest you make sure you got all your LES from Reserve time. Go into your records and make sure all is there before you get out. Yes I am guessing you will have to wait until you're 60, but with that many points, you will have a great retirement. If I remember right, there used to be an early retirement at 15yrs, but not sure it is still an active program. If so, if I was in your shoes, I'd check how much you get taking the early and how much you would get from waiting until 60, then make a decision. Lots of regs have changed since I retired, but you will get credit for it all.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2022 1:21 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 25 May 2022 01:21:18 -0400

There's a pretty simple answer, I can even show you where it's written in regulation.

But...... It involves not writing everything in caps....

Response by COL Jeff Williams made May 25 at 2022 4:15 AM

COL Jeff Williams — Wed, 25 May 2022 04:15:46 -0400

I am assuming that the Navy has a points system just like the Army. If it does, then yes it all counts. I am also assuming you at some point received a 20 year letter? You might not have to wait until 60 since you were deployed in a combat zone, that will take off some time from 60 years. If you were overseas as a reservist you should have a set of orders and DD214 to show your time there. Not sure why your personnel section could not help you

Response by SSG Laurie Mullen made May 25 at 2022 7:09 AM

SSG Laurie Mullen — Wed, 25 May 2022 07:09:47 -0400

Disregard

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made May 25 at 2022 8:40 AM

CPT Lawrence Cable — Wed, 25 May 2022 08:40:46 -0400

The Special retirement for reserves is the same all the way across the board. As SFC Boyd pointed out, you need 20 "good" years. All of your Active Duty years will be good years and any of those six Reserve that you have where you earned more than 50 points, you should get 78 at minimum levels of participation, SFC Boyd forgot that you also get 15 membership points. If you are active now, you would need to go to a reserve program to apply AFTER you get your 20 year letter. If you are wanting to get out, after you get your letter, you request transfer to the Retired Reserve, then apply for you retirement 90 days before your 60th birthday, minus 90 days for every year of deployment as a reservist.
I will point out that you should get credit for time for any Active Duty done as a Reservist, IET ,Deployments, ADOS, AT's, Active Duty Schools attended while a Reservist. If you did 16 Active and a year deployment as a Reservist, you should be damn close to sanctuary. I would sit down with the S-1, or whatever the Navy calls them, and make sure that they account for it and that it's credited toward your active retirement.
Good luck, and yes, it is confusing.

Response by SFC Harry Jacobs made Jun 3 at 2022 4:52 PM

SFC Harry Jacobs — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 16:52:29 -0400

Only your active duty for training such as two week summer camp etc counts as active duty for retirement but all of your reserve time counts for length of service pay.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2022 6:29 PM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 18:29:59 -0400

CPT Lawrence has it right, I'm a career consult in the navy reserves. Sit down with your command career counselor. If they can't walk you through it or have any questions let me know. I'll call them myself and we'll make sure you get your retirement! [login to see]

Response by TSgt David Olson made Jun 4 at 2022 12:40 AM

TSgt David Olson — Sat, 04 Jun 2022 00:40:45 -0400

I’ m going to tell my story. It began in 1963 with a three year enlistment in the Army. My AD time ended in 1966. Fast forward to 1984 when I enlisted in the Air Guard of a state. I just met the maximum age cutoff. I was working full time for the unit, not in a position where it counted toward a military retirement. I accrued that for my weekends and fifteen day annual time.In 1986 I began an extended active duty tour for the Air Force, designed to last three years. 1989 I completed my tour, was discharged from the AF, and re-enlisted in my old ANG unit. After seeing that more rank was not possible, I was discharged from the ANG. After several months I enlisted in the AF reserve at the rank I held when I left the guard. The position I had enlisted for was that of an IMA, individual mobilization augmentee. I was assigned to an active duty unit. I had just enough time to reach my reserve retirement before age sixty. Unfortunately I was separated before I reach that goal. This was the time of downsizing, and the reserves had a policy in place, to allow enlisted personnel with more than fifteen years and less than twenty, an honorable discharge and a full reserve retirement. My hearing was failing me so I jumped at the early separation. To answer your question, your reserve time counts if all six years were “good years”.Meaning you met all your drill time requirements. Because you are blending AD time and reserve time you would qualify for a reserve retirement which provides for a percentage of AD retirement pay based on your rank and time in the reserve. All the other benefits are the same as an active duty retirement. My retirement ID says, “retired US Air Force”, Hope this helps.

Response by CPO Chuck Koopman made Jun 5 at 2022 9:25 AM

CPO Chuck Koopman — Sun, 05 Jun 2022 09:25:03 -0400

These very relevant comments contain all the information you need. Active duty and reserve personnel all get credited for that total point system. The main difference is you get credit for every day of active duty. Reserve and national guard only get those points for each completed on drill weekends and the 2 (or more) days served per year. In addition, extra points and correspondence courses are considered as well. I understand first hand about HYT. I needed 2 more years to amass the necessary points for retirement, and fortunately I received an emergency extention for my billet and was allowed to pick up the necessary points for 20 "good" years out of 26. The inactive reserve still allows points for retirement, so they're not "dead time.
All those years of active duty should assure you of most of the points for a retirement.
I made CPO in 1993. My billet (field corpsman) was basically frozen at SCPO E-8 the first year I was eligible. The 2nd year they promoted 10 out of 80 openings. The third year I would have got it (probably) there were 80 openings but I had to retire at CPO. That's OK, all I ever wanted was to be CPO, my retirement would have been more however. Personnel department will have all the information you need. The NPC, or naval personnel center in New Orleans should be contacted too to insure your point totals correspond to you SRB (service record ) record. They will have all your history, awards and other relevant info on file. DFAS, or military pay center issues that date you can (or must) retire. You have to request retirement to insure its when you want it and when.
20 years active you can retire immediately and draw pay and allowances. Reserve and national guard members take longer to get paid. Work with a personnel specialist to iron out the details.
Fair winds and following seas shipmate!

Response by TSgt D Newman made Jun 6 at 2022 10:13 AM

TSgt D Newman — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 10:13:20 -0400

I have the same issue however, mine is somewhat different. I was injured overseas on active duty but because I was a reservist on active duty I have to wait till im 60 to draw my retirement pay. I was medically discharged after 18 yrs and 7 surgeries. So not sure if it helps but yeah you will have to wait till your 60.

Response by CAPT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 17 at 2022 12:27 PM

CAPT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 12:27:33 -0400

It depends. You say you have 22 "years on your LES". That could mean that you have 22 "good years" towards retirement or it might just mean that you have 22 years for pay. If you are just talking about the time in service box at the top that's just for figuring out which column you are in on the pay chart. That's not the same thing as having good years towards retirement. The 16 years of active duty will count, obviously. The 6 years reserve however only counts if you received 50 "retirement points" per year during those 6 years. If you didn't, they cannot be counted for retirement. So, if you were in the IRR, it's unlikely you did anything to get those retirement points. You get 15 for free but you'd have to do other things to get the remaining 35. Typically members of the IRR do correspondence courses and the like but it can be hard to get 35 points that way and do it every year for 6 years. You can carry excess points over from year to year either so, if you get 100 points one year and 15 points only the next, that still only counts for 1 year. If your reserve duty was as a drilling reservist, however, getting the 50 required points each year should be pretty easy. You get 15 free and another 48 for completing all of your drills plus if you do your "two weeks" you'd get another 12-14 typically so easily clearing the 50 point bar but there are nuances there too which I won't get into here because they are very situation specific.

But, basically what I'm saying is, it is possible that you would be eligible for retirement if 4 of your 6 years of "reserve" duty, (assuming you did indeed get 16 full years of active duty) had enough retirement points to make you eligible.

In order to get an "active" retirement, you have to do 20 years of active duty. You cannot use reserve duty to supplement an active retirement other than adding on to your retirement pension calculation after you've achieved 20 years of active duty. If your active duty time is less than 20 years you will only be eligible for a Reserve retirement (although a pretty beefy one) and will have to wait until 60 to get your retirement benefits including your pension. The only way a reserve retiree gets their time reduced is if, AS A RESERVIST, they were called to Active Duty in which case they can reduce the age at which they begin to collect their pension by a generally equivalent of time to that RESERVE COMPONENT PERIOD of active duty. Regular active duty as a member of the active component does not affect this.

If you still have access to BOL, I would go to the "ARPR/ASOSH Online". That stands for "Annual Retirement Point Record/Active Statement of Service History". That should show your retirement point calculation though I don't know what that looks like for an Active Duty sailor so....might not show anything but doesn't hurt to look.

Feel free to reach out to me for further clarification.