Crossing the finish line... running, walking or crawling... (Reserve Retirement Process)

[Chida]

I got out of regAF at 10 yrs never intending to join the reserve. My first civilian job offer, that I thought was in the bag, fell thru and the only semi-immediate job prospect was the reserve, so I signed up.
Had various low paying jobs along the way, so I stayed gettin money. By the time I got my final high-paying job I only had 3 yrs to get to retirement, didn’t need the income anymore, so went IRR.
It was always a means to an end: at first just the extra pay, then securing the eventual pension.

 

[wink]

For over 10 years commuted to drill, first 360 miles to San Diego, then 5300 to London. Obviously took time from the family. I just told the kids it was so they would be even less likely to have to take care of me in retirement. It was mostly rewarding and diversified my retirement. YMMV. I only wish my SELRES flying gig hadn't become a victim of peace in the early 90s.

 

[taxi1]

I stayed in until they kicked me out.

Years where I got paid for half the hours worked, but also plenty of times where Saturday was spent figuring out what to do Saturday night and Sunday was spent recovering.

Favorite reserve quote, don’t yell at me, I’ve already quit once.

 

[Chida]

I knew a guy that stayed in bc every time he tried to retire got pissed off at the process. Then he found it easier to get msd waivers than retiring. Madness

 

[snake020]

Interesting, the folks I knew in who stayed past their minimum TIG enjoyed the pay and bennies and/or just plain enjoyed it. I generally saw three types of folks who retired from the reserves to include those that did the min and bolted, those that did it until they didn't like it or had just reached their limit then there were those like me who stayed to the bitter end. For me the the pain was far outweighed by not only the 'fun' but also the pay, that helped enormously the last 6-7 years I was in even when not including my last MOB.

There was a time about five years ago where I was really enjoying it and had a blast with what I was able to do on ADOS assignments. If you'd asked me then how much time I had left, I would have said indefinite and I'm planning on staying past 20.

Since then it's been mostly fighting with NRCs over rudimentary things, ATs that had irregular and stressful schedules where I was just there for body count on the JMD, and too much time and money spent on travel not adding value to anything. Those recent experiences made it easy to hang it up.

 

[subreservist]

I am finally in receipt of my 1st reserve retirement paycheck from DFAS!

My time as a CANREC (recruiter) allowed me take 6 years off the standard 60yo to collect. Another benefit to CANREC, since you're on active duty, is it allows you to document any medical conditions into your record which will benefit a VA disability claim.

I took advantage of a reserve retirement course a few years ago: https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Caree...e-Retirements/Retirement-Transition-Outreach/

This course goes over the paperwork you need to submit to DFAS and helps you minimize any errors, so you hopefully get it right the 1st time. There is other good info in the course also. There also no limit in how many times you take the course, so if you have a lot of gray area time and forget stuff, you can just take it again.

In my case, my time in the gray area was really short (only a year and 4 months), so the info was still fresh for me.

You can submit your paperwork to DFAS up to a year before the birthday you expect to draw pay. DFAS will send a few emails that your claim is received and processing and establish a "Future Retiree Account" for you in mypay.

When my birthday came, I couldn't help but to call to DFAS to ask about a status, but they will only give you the "It'll be 30-60 days to process your application" line.

3 weeks after my birthday, I received an email that my application was complete and another that my RAS (retirement LES) was available to view in mypay. However, the RAS has not posted because my account in mypay has not made the technical transition to a "Retiree Account" in the system. I think that will happen by the December 1st.

Yesterday, via USPS, I received a letter that explained my retirement calculation, how much will get taken out for federal tax, and how much would be taken for RC-SBP (survivor benefit plan). It pretty much matched the estimate I had done for myself, so I'm pretty happy with that!

I also received a pro-rated check for the short birthday month with the 1st full amount coming on Dec 1st. Once my mypay account transitions, I can establish direct deposit (or you can fill out the form and mail it to DFAS).

My DFAS letter also stated "all necessary documents haven't been received". I believe what they are referring to is the audit they do with VA to see what, if any, disability percentage you have. Once they have that info, they adjust your retirement to reflect VA payments.

Anyone that is 50% or higher can received full retirement and VA disability concurrently. DFAS will automatically put you in CRDP (concurrent military retired pay) if you meet 50 or above - which applies to me). If you are less than 50, they will offset retirement by the amount you receive, which will result in you paying less tax on your retirement amount.

Of course, still have to wait to age 60 for Tricare (but if you're 100% P&T with VA, you can use VA for all your medical and dental and place your family on the CHAMPVA program), but drawing pay is still a good feeling considering I NEVER thought I would reach retirement when I started this Navy adventure!

 

[Chida]

Thx for AAR. I have 13 yrs to go!

 

[MIDNJAC]

I am finally in receipt of my 1st reserve retirement paycheck from DFAS!

My time as a CANREC (recruiter) allowed me take 6 years off the standard 60yo to collect. Another benefit to CANREC, since you're on active duty, is it allows you to document any medical conditions into your record which will benefit a VA disability claim.

I took advantage of a reserve retirement course a few years ago: https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Caree...e-Retirements/Retirement-Transition-Outreach/

This course goes over the paperwork you need to submit to DFAS and helps you minimize any errors, so you hopefully get it right the 1st time. There is other good info in the course also. There also no limit in how many times you take the course, so if you have a lot of gray area time and forget stuff, you can just take it again.

In my case, my time in the gray area was really short (only a year and 4 months), so the info was still fresh for me.

You can submit your paperwork to DFAS up to a year before the birthday you expect to draw pay. DFAS will send a few emails that your claim is received and processing and establish a "Future Retiree Account" for you in mypay.

When my birthday came, I couldn't help but to call to DFAS to ask about a status, but they will only give you the "It'll be 30-60 days to process your application" line.

3 weeks after my birthday, I received an email that my application was complete and another that my RAS (retirement LES) was available to view in mypay. However, the RAS has not posted because my account in mypay has not made the technical transition to a "Retiree Account" in the system. I think that will happen by the December 1st.

Yesterday, via USPS, I received a letter that explained my retirement calculation, how much will get taken out for federal tax, and how much would be taken for RC-SBP (survivor benefit plan). It pretty much matched the estimate I had done for myself, so I'm pretty happy with that!

I also received a pro-rated check for the short birthday month with the 1st full amount coming on Dec 1st. Once my mypay account transitions, I can establish direct deposit (or you can fill out the form and mail it to DFAS).

My DFAS letter also stated "all necessary documents haven't been received". I believe what they are referring to is the audit they do with VA to see what, if any, disability percentage you have. Once they have that info, they adjust your retirement to reflect VA payments.

Anyone that is 50% or higher can received full retirement and VA disability concurrently. DFAS will automatically put you in CRDP (concurrent military retired pay) if you meet 50 or above - which applies to me). If you are less than 50, they will offset retirement by the amount you receive, which will result in you paying less tax on your retirement amount.

Of course, still have to wait to age 60 for Tricare (but if you're 100% P&T with VA, you can use VA for all your medical and dental and place your family on the CHAMPVA program), but drawing pay is still a good feeling considering I NEVER thought I would reach retirement when I started this Navy adventure!

Thanks for that info. To your first point, I dont think I’m even smart enough on how the 90-day orders/consecutive/cumulative thing works to reduce gray area, to properly evaluate if they get it right for me. I did 12 yrs on real active duty, and i think my ASOSH shows somewhere around 14 yrs of total active time based on reserve orders over the last 6 years. It’s just 90+ day orders that factor into the reduction from 60 years old right?

 

[subreservist]

Thanks for that info. To your first point, I dont think I’m even smart enough on how the 90-day orders/consecutive/cumulative thing works to reduce gray area, to properly evaluate if they get it right for me. I did 12 yrs on real active duty, and i think my ASOSH shows somewhere around 14 yrs of total active time based on reserve orders over the last 6 years. It’s just 90+ day orders that factor into the reduction from 60 years old right?

At least 90 days and have the right title code written into the orders.

There are several different types of title 10 orders codes. Mine were 12301D.

I mention this because not all active orders qualify even if the duration is more than 90 days. But most orders involving a deployment qualify.

 

[Flash]

Thanks for that info. To your first point, I dont think I’m even smart enough on how the 90-day orders/consecutive/cumulative thing works to reduce gray area, to properly evaluate if they get it right for me. I did 12 yrs on real active duty, and i think my ASOSH shows somewhere around 14 yrs of total active time based on reserve orders over the last 6 years. It’s just 90+ day orders that factor into the reduction from 60 years old right?

At least 90 days and have the right title code written into the orders.

There are several different types of title 10 orders codes. Mine were 12301D.

I mention this because not all active orders qualify even if the duration is more than 90 days. But most orders involving a deployment qualify.

As subreservist points out the code used for your orders are key, they are on your orders about a quarter or a third of the way down on the first page IIRC.

The US Codes that qualify (with my MyNavyHR link)*:

• 10 U.S.C. §12301(d): At any time a Reserve component member ordered to active duty withconsent of the member
• 10 U.S.C. § 688: During a contingency operation, a retired member ordered to active duty
• 10 U.S.C. § 12301(a): During a war or national emergency declared by Congress, or when authorized by law, a Reserve component unit (or member not assigned to a unit) ordered to active duty, without the member’s consent
• 10 U.S.C. § 12302: During a national emergency declared by the President, or when authorized by law, a Ready Reserve unit (or member not assigned to a unit), without the member’s consent
• 10 U.S.C. § 12304: For a named operational mission, a Selected Reserve unit (or member not assigned to a unit) or essential Individual Ready Reserve member, without the member’s consent
• 10 U.S.C. § 12304a: Pursuant to a Governor’s request for assistance responding to a major disaster or emergency, a Reserve unit (or member not assigned to a unit), without the member’s consent
• 10 U.S.C. § 12305: During “stop loss” orders
• 10 U.S.C. § 12406: During invasion of the U.S. or rebellion against the U.S. Government
• 10 U.S.C. Chapter 15: During insurrections in States

*This USAF JAG paper points out that USC 12310 and 12311 orders do not count, in case you were wondering.

Another thing is that the orders don't have to be 90+ days, they can be cumulative/aggregate in one FY if you have several orders shorter than but cumulatively add up to 90 days or more. For the types of orders we are talking about that isn't common but for 209 you may actually run into that if you do more than deployment in an FY.

Also, if your orders go across two FY's and add up to more than 90 days (and are FY15 or later) then the time qualifies towards a reduced retirement. I do not know if cumulative/aggregate time across two FY's where orders don't straddle both FY's qualify (60 days on one set of orders in FY 2024 and 45 days on another set of orders in FY 2025), that would be a NavyHR question. Their example for that scenario has a set of orders that goes from one FY to next.

BTW, I've actually had good experience with NavyHR answering questions the two times I've emailed them (askmncc@navy.mil), with them getting back to me with an answer in just a few days. As a matter of fact the last time was earlier this year to get an estimate when I would start receiving my retirement pay, they turned out to be right while I discovered my estimate was wrong.