The problem is the sailors already in the 2-16 year mark. Many Sailors didn't pay in under the old plan, so they still need to get 20 for that pension to get anything.
The new BRS grandfathers a person into the older High Tier-3 system if they are serving as of 12/31/17. Anyone entering after 12/31/17 only gets enrolled in BRS.
It does, however, have the opting in option if one is Active Duty with less than 12 Years, or is in the Reserves with less than 4,320 Points and are in a paid Billet (i.e. SELRES but not IRR or VTU).
But to even
think about getting to 20 years in the Reserves one must fall into the following category:
1) An Enlisted person must make E-6 to get the E-6 20-22 Year HYT.
A sh*t-hot Enlisted can make E-6 in 5-7 years (in Active Duty), but I would say the average (in either Active or SELRES) is more like ~8-12.
2) A non-prior Officer must make O-4 to get the 20 Commissioned Years guarantee.
An officer can make O-4 in their 8-12 commissioned year.
3) A prior-Enlisted Officer must have enough Qualifying Years from their Enlisted time to allow that officer to get to 20 Years as an O-1 through O-3 before being attritioned out, which means that prior-enlisted Officer better have 8-12 years as prior Enlisted if that officer does not make O-4.
In all 3 cases they must have served in
an Active Duty/SELRES combination for at least that many years to make E-6/O-4.
Therefore, the effect of the new IRR Policy is really on those that have since gone IRR during their ~7/8-15th years and have not reached 16 years.
So, those guys need to make some informed decisions if they want to get to 20.
If they stick to High Tier-3, then to get to 16 years, they must either go SELRES or VTU for those remaining 1-8/9 Years.
If they opt-in to BRS, then to get to 16 years they must go SELRES (to Opt In), then they can stay SELRES or switch to VTU, for those 1-8/9 Years.
Either way, it means going back to Drilling.