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

[Hair Warrior]

What are your strategies and tactics for maxxing out your reserve retirement points?

I know some people who take back to back ADOS at CDR. Others who do correspondence courses or funeral honors. Trying to see what ideas and options work best.

 

[snake020]

What are your strategies and tactics for maxxing out your reserve retirement points?

I know some people who take back to back ADOS at CDR. Others who do correspondence courses or funeral honors. Trying to see what ideas and options work best.

Submit for non-paid drills early and often. If you are SELRES, with the amount of BS that we're expected outside of DWEs, you should be claiming that time liberally as non-paid for points.

Aside from NWC and AWC, correspondence courses are mostly mind numbingly painful.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Each year that passes after you actually retire makes you realize it was work it.
The pay is good to have coming in of course, but the main benefit is TriCare for Life.
I have so many civilian friends who have to keep working for health benefits, and I have found the Medicare/Tricare combo to work quite well.
As you age, no matter how hard you fight it, having the medical benefits of being MilRet becomes so apparent.
I have to give the Army Reserves a BZ for when the worked up my Reserve Retirement Points. each of my 2 Marine PLC summers counted as reserve years, add 13 active Marines, 1 yr Army Natl. Guard, and 7 yrs Army Reserves plus 1 yr activated for Bosnia and I got 24 good years (5K + pts).
And I got the Army to pay for this Marine's retirement!

 

[MIDNJAC]

Each year that passes after you actually retire makes you realize it was work it.
The pay is good to have coming in of course, but the main benefit is TriCare for Life.
I have so many civilian friends who have to keep working for health benefits, and I have found the Medicare/Tricare combo to work quite well.
As you age, no matter how hard you fight it, having the medical benefits of being MilRet becomes so apparent.
I have to give the Army Reserves a BZ for when the worked up my Reserve Retirement Points. each of my 2 Marine PLC summers counted as reserve years, add 13 active Marines, 1 yr Army Natl. Guard, and 7 yrs Army Reserves plus 1 yr activated for Bosnia and I got 24 good years (5K + pts).
And I got the Army to pay for this Marine's retirement!

This might be a giant hole in my reserves knowledge base, but my understanding is that SELRES/traditional reservist loses Tricare eligibility from the time they retire, until age 60. I know Army reserves/AF reserves are pretty different, in terms of active retirements, but is this not the case for us?

 

[snake020]

This might be a giant hole in my reserves knowledge base, but my understanding is that SELRES/traditional reservist loses Tricare eligibility from the time they retire, until age 60. I know Army reserves/AF reserves are pretty different, in terms of active retirements, but is this not the case for us?

You can get Tricare Retired Reserve when you are in the gray area, but the premiums are not favorable:

 

[MIDNJAC]

You can get Tricare Retired Reserve when you are in the gray area, but the premiums are not favorable:

View attachment 42850

Thanks, forgot about that. But my eyes did get wide when the new Tricare lowest bidder took the contract this January and erroneously emailed all of us in TRS with the Retired Reserve monthly premiums, saying they would be the new cost going forward. Nothing says competence like something of that sort. I'm sure it will be a great relationship

 

[Griz882]

Not a reserve retirement, but a sincere congratulations to @Brett327 on his retirement after 35 years of service. There is no doubt his career is distinguished and marked by notable accomplishments. That said, this article and photo from the Hawaii Express makes me wonder if he kept a clean desk! 🤣

Command Transition: Capt. Stevenson Retires After 35 Years of Service - Hawaii Express

Kauai, HI—On Thursday, the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) hosted a significant Change of Command ceremony, marking the transition of leadership from

hawaiiexpres.com

 

[Hair Warrior]

You can get Tricare Retired Reserve when you are in the gray area, but the premiums are not favorable:

View attachment 42850

Yikes. Was not tracking that. That may change my decision calculus, assuming I’m still in the Navy then. What happens at age 60 for retired reserve healthcare?

 

[subreservist]

Yikes. Was not tracking that. That may change my decision calculus, assuming I’m still in the Navy then. What happens at age 60 for retired reserve healthcare?

At age 60, you are eligible to go under Tricare Prime or Select. Then at 65, it goes to Tricare for Life as a wrap around to Medicare.

 

[snake020]

Yikes. Was not tracking that. That may change my decision calculus, assuming I’m still in the Navy then.

This is why many reservists that are retirement eligible choose to stick around in SELRES.

 

[Flash]

You can get Tricare Retired Reserve when you are in the gray area, but the premiums are not favorable:

View attachment 42850

Surprising or not, there were a few reservists I knew who were considering the TRICARE Retired Reserve option due to the high cost of their company's insurance.

 

[snake020]

Surprising or not, there were a few reservists I knew who were considering the TRICARE Retired Reserve option due to the high cost of their company's insurance.

Then why not just gut it out and stick around in SELRES and save that $1238/mo, not to mention the deductible and cap differences?

 

[Flash]

Then why not just gut it out and stick around in SELRES and save that $1238/mo, not to mention the deductible and cap differences?

They did, as long as the Navy would let them but most aged out by around 50 leaving them to cover ~10 years. I encouraged a few to look at their state's Health Insurance Marketplace/Exchange (Obamacare) for options there but I'm not sure any did.

 

[Hair Warrior]

They did, as long as the Navy would let them but most aged out by around 50 leaving them to cover ~10 years. I encouraged a few to look at their state's Health Insurance Marketplace/Exchange (Obamacare) for options there but I'm not sure any did.

$1,513 x 12 x 10, before any copays or deductibles, is aggregious

Hopefully they had enough VA disability % to make use of free VA care, but that still doesn’t help their spouse.

 

[subreservist]

$1,513 x 12 x 10, before any copays or deductibles, is aggregious

Hopefully they had enough VA disability % to make use of free VA care, but that still doesn’t help their spouse.

If you are 100% P&T for VA, you can apply to place dependents on the CHAMPVA program, which is actually a cost-savings over Tricare coverage.