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Reserve Gouge (Pay, Retirement, etc)

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46Driver

"It's a mother beautiful bridge, and it's gon
Just thought I would pass some of this along since nobody actually has a clue about the reserves until you join.

Pay: several different types.
AT (annual training), ADT (additional duty training), and ADSW (additional duty special work) are all the same as when you were on active duty. You will receive base pay, flight pay, housing, and food. How much you can do per year varies depending on the annual funding allotment but you are guaranteed 12 days of AT per year.

Regular Drills (4 drills done 2 per day, ie - the traditional 2 days per month - 48 total drills for the year) are paid as monthly base pay + monthly flight pay divided by 30 (30 being the days in a month)
For example: if you make $5350 per month in base pay and $650 per month in flight pay then it would be $6000 / 30 = $200 per drill or $400 per day.

AFTP's (additional flight training periods) are allowed to a maximum of 72 for the year (usually 2 per day to equal 36 days worth of work) pay is computed the same as Regular Drills.

RETIREMENT:
First, don't forget you will get substantially cheaper prescription drugs with a military retirement.

Retirement Pay: starts when you reach age 60 (there is legislation out there to reduce this to age 55) The formula for this is as follows:

total number of POINTS / 360 x 0.025 x base pay of your highest rank
clear as mud? say you retire as an O-5 with about 5500 points (about 13 years worth of active duty points and a bunch of drill points)

5500 / 360 = 15.27 x 0.025 = 0.382 x $6997 = $2673 per month

you did more work and retire as an O-6 with 6500 points

6500 / 360 = 18.05 x 0.025 = 0.451 x $8575 = $3867 per month

What is a point? every day of active duty, every day of AT, ADT, ADSW are all one point.

every regular drill, every AFTP, and every RMP are also one point but they are in a different category - after you reach 90 of these points, the remainder during the year do not count towards retirement

Yes, you can combine the 2 during the year so you might have 75 days worth of AT and ADT as well as 90 points from regular drills and AFTP's for a total of 165 points for the year.

You MUST do 50 points of work to count as a SATISFACTORY year towards your 20 needed for retirement.

Remember, that when you put in for orders, the company has to let you go with no loss of seniority or position at your company - this is federal law.

Finally, you can do additional work outside of your reserve squadron. Billets are available everywhere and the squadron will generally let you go do work like this for up to 179 days away. I have had friends get orders for staff duty in London, base historian in Hawaii, attache orders in the Caribbean, etc. Yes, there are a multitude of good deals in the reserves.

Hope this helps you active duty bubbas - any other questions, PM me.
 

Steve Wilkins

Teaching pigs to dance, one pig at a time.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Yes, this is definately some good gouge. One thing to point out is education....correspondance courses. You get points toward retirement for these too. Before I became XO of a Reserve Center, I was dead set on cutting all ties when I get out of the NAV. However, I have seen the light. There are a multitude of good deals out there for reservists. It's actually quite unbelievable the stuff they get to do.
 

signud

Final Select SNA
Is it possible to go straight into the reserves from a pilot standpoint? Or is that possible only after you serve?
 

EA-6B1

PLC Jrs 1st Inc. Kilo-3
Say I did 8 years active as an aviator in the Marines, and got out. I could then move onto the ANG or Reserves and work for 12 more years and get retirement? Or would I have to do more than the one weekend/month two weeks/year deal? Could the last 12 years work out with me having another civilian job? Sorry,like 46 said, just not sure how the reserves/guard all works.
 

46Driver

"It's a mother beautiful bridge, and it's gon
No, you can not go directly into a pilot position with the Navy Reserves or the Marine Reserves. I don't know about the Army Reserves or Air Force Reserves. I do know you can do it with the Air National Guard and the Army Air National Guard.

Yes, you could do 8 years of active duty and then 12 in the reserves to get your retirement - the retirement check you received would be based upon the point system above. With the change in the reserve structure, you can expect to do more than the 2 days a month, 2 weeks a year. If you are in the airlines, it is very easy to work the reserve duty in - airlines have a multitude of reserve pilots and really don't mind letting you go do military duty. (they also don't have a choice - federal law mandates that military duty has priority.) Regular jobs are more difficult because you are much harder for a company to replace. Many bubbas become BURP's (Basically Unemployed Reserve Pilots) and drill as much as possible while they build airline seniority. For example, I have averaged about $60k a year for the last 3 years in the reserves to go along with whatever I make at the regional airline.

All of this applies to the Navy Reserves as well.
 

46Driver

"It's a mother beautiful bridge, and it's gon
E5B said:
As far as points go, what about IRR or DEP time?

Yes, you can be in the IRR and get 50 points via correspondence courses or volunteering for 2 or 3 week billets, etc. You also get 15 points per year as membership in the reserves so in reality you just have to get 35 points in the year for it to count as a "good year".

If you were PLC combined or OCC, your 10 weeks of OCS count as a good year.

If you were PLC with two 6 week courses, those count as 2 years towards your 20 for retirement.

I don't know what DEP time is.
 

E5B

Lineholder
pilot
Super Moderator
DEP is Delayed Entry Program. When I signed up for boot camp (still in high school) I had several months before I shipped. That time counted towards my contract. So 8 years from the day I signed the DEP contract is the day I recieved my discharge papers, eventhough I was in the IRR for 3 years 7 months.

Just curious how that time counted, and if it counted.

I was in the PLC program/college during my IRR years so they probably won't count for anything, but the 2 summers of PLC will count?
 

TANGO 1

Member
Contributor
Any Marine pilot here or individuals thinking of doing 8 and switching over to the ANG. That is not a bad idea, but then you don't just get that action. I am a reservist at an F/A 18 squadron and i can tell you we get to do more fun stuff than those F-16 guys across from our flight line. They don't go on anual CAX's like we do and all those NATO exercise we do in support of the grunts and the Armed forces at large. Their planes cannot land anywhere whereas our can take off from the boat and go fly CAPS and the come back. I have been in 4 years and i have been in more places than my ANG brother who does the same thing i do on the F/A-18's. But if you just want a job to keep up your flight hours and retirement pay then the ANG is the place to go.

Also for the fighter pilots out there, Airforce pilots cannot fly at almost Mach 1 over the hangar and as low as to be able to count the rivets on the a$$ end. Basically Marine pilots have a whole lot more freedom.
 

EpoxyRocketJock

Registered User
How does one go about flying in a reserve 18 squadren in the Marine Corps. Background: I am currently on active duty leaving for Iwakuni Japan soon and thinking about later in my career going reserves. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
 

46Driver

"It's a mother beautiful bridge, and it's gon
You need to start making contacts at the units you want to go to. Networking is everything. I've walked in resumes for a bunch of furloughed United and Delta pilots who are in the middle of career changes to leave the airlines for something else and in the interim are building up their reserve retirements. If you have any specific questions, PM me and I can probably answer them.
 

46Driver

"It's a mother beautiful bridge, and it's gon
As I am in the middle of a job hunt for a government job, thought I would pass along some of the items about the GS pay scale and how it compares to the military:

GS 11 starts at Step 1 of $45,239 and tops out at Step 10 of $58,811
GS 12 starts at Step 1 of $54,221 and tops out at Step 10 of $70,484
GS 13 starts at Step 1 of $64,478 and tops out at Step 10 of $83,819
GS 14 starts at Step 1 of $76,193 and tops out at Step 10 of $99,053
GS 15 starts at Step 1 of $89,625 and tops out at Step 10 of $116,517

Military retirement = years of service x 0.025 x highest base pay
Federal retirement = years of service x 0.011 x highest base pay

(for comparison's sake: )
Major's BASE pay max's at $71,208
Lt Col's BASE pay max's at $83,964
Colonel's BASE pay max's at $102,900

2 notes: You can "buy in" in your active duty years (as long as you are not receiving an active duty retirement and increase your federal retirement. For example, you do 14 years of military service and 21 years of federal service and retire with 35 years of federal service. Also, you can still get a reserve retirement - thus you could get the 35 year federal retirement and a military reserve retirement - very nice... However, if you are receiving an active duty retirement, you can not "buy in" and increase your federal retirement.

I'll pass more along as the research continues.
 

Physicx

Banned
Is it hard to get on with a reserve unit after your initial commitment is up.And how often do you have to fly to stay current.Also if you go to Customs that counts toward your retirement.
 
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