SELRES VT Life

[electric_warrior]

Like many others, I’m considering doing the SELRES-to-Airline transition. But I’m dreading that 1-ish year period as a SELRES bum before I get hired (hopefully). Can I fly as much as I want in the VT’s and still make a reasonably decent income? I’m still really ignorant on how the SELRES drill/pay system works for a VT guy. How long does it usually take to make SELRES O-4?

Any insight would be massively appreciated!

 

[zippy]

Like many others, I’m considering doing the SELRES-to-Airline transition. But I’m dreading that 1-ish year period as a SELRES bum before I get hired (hopefully). Can I fly as much as I want in the VT’s and still make a reasonably decent income? I’m still really ignorant on how the SELRES drill/pay system works for a VT guy. How long does it usually take to make SELRES O-4?

Any insight would be massively appreciated!

Many VT guys get picked up by the majors before going on terminal leave...

Talk to your SAU members to get an accurate picture of the $. If you want to make decent cash that first year consider ISR- you can fly VTs easily on your 6 months off a year.

 

[Randy Daytona]

As Zippy said, check with the FTS Department head to get a clue on how much funding is available. Traditionally, you would be able to get 48 regular drills, 72 AFTP's (both of those you do 2 per day so about 60 days of work (best guess for an O-3 at 10 years would be about $440 per day gross). You would traditionally get 29 days of AT as well. Not sure if ADT or ADSW is available (If you get orders for more than 30 days, you rate medical and leave. Also, do not forget to sign up for SelRes Tricare.)

However, schools such as JPME, NDU, JSC come from N7 funding which is a different pot of money. Likewise, exercises come from a different pot of money as well. Both of those would set you up well for promotion to O-5, and if you get command, a good chance for O-6. Lot of guys want to just make O-4 and fly (nothing wrong with that) but the difference in retirement income between O-4 and O-6 is huge.

 

[rotorhead1871]

your retirement income also is controlled heavily by years of active service. I retired at O4, had 6 years of active duty. a friend of mine retired at W4 with 12 years A/D. He makes more than I do. A/D is worth 2.5%/year while reserve is .5% /year. I had a boss (O6) who didn't have any A/D but went 30 years (15%)....and TFL too.
so it all depends....

its all good!!

 

[Gatordev]

It's controlled by points, not years. You're kind of crossing the streams with how you're trying to explain it.

 

[rotorhead1871]

correct, basically you get a point a day in uniform. reserve duty: 60+12 for ACDUTRA/year= 72...on AD=365/year 50% at 20 years is 2.5%/year ....72/365 = about .2 or 1/5th

some years you will get more than 72 if you do a class or more than 1 ACDUTRA.

its a good way to ballpark your retirement as a percent of Base Pay..

its all good...

 

[Gatordev]

I get what you're trying to say, but for someone who doesn't speak the language, it makes it more confusing when you SWAG it with percentages. Also, your numbers are inaccurate.

48+12+15 (for showing up)= 75. PLUS any additional drills. I'll defer to the TRAWING RDHs for AFTPs, but on the fleet side, I don't think I ever saw a SELRES get 72 AFTPs in a FY. There just wasn't enough money to go around. I did know a guy who got very close, though.

 

[Randy Daytona]

I get what you're trying to say, but for someone who doesn't speak the language, it makes it more confusing when you SWAG it with percentages. Also, your numbers are inaccurate.

48+12+15 (for showing up)= 75. PLUS any additional drills. I'll defer to the TRAWING RDHs for AFTPs, but on the fleet side, I don't think I ever saw a SELRES get 72 AFTPs in a FY. There just wasn't enough money to go around. I did know a guy who got very close, though.

Training Command it was given that you would get 72. 48 IDT's + 72 AFTP's = 120 points. Add in 15 for being alive put you at 135 - but the max is 130 inactive points per year. (when I initially hit SelRes it was 90, before that it was 75, and in the beginning it was 60.) The one problem is people will occasionally drill too much either before or after their anniversary year and not max out at 130 - I have a couple of years in the 120's because of that.

 

[Flash]

correct, basically you get a point a day in uniform. reserve duty: 60+12 for ACDUTRA/year= 72...on AD=365/year....50% at 20 years is 2.5%/year ....72/365 = about .2 or 1/5th...its a good way to ballpark your retirement as a percent of Base Pay...

I get what you're trying to say, but for someone who doesn't speak the language, it makes it more confusing when you SWAG it with percentages. Also, your numbers are inaccurate...

It is easier just to do the math to get your percentage; Total Points/365 x 2.5 = % Retirement. If someone wanted to guesstimate their retirement they could take their active duty time x it by a reasonable number of points per year and go from there. If someone did 10 years active duty then was active in the reserves for 10 years they could easily just do; 3650 + 750 (for 75 points a year) / 2.5 = 30.1% at retirement.

You can plug and play the figures you want but that is easy math even for a History major like me to do and my original guesstimate from 10 years ago was pretty close to what I would get now, definitely close enough for government work.

 

[rotorhead1871]

Training Command it was given that you would get 72. 48 IDT's + 72 AFTP's = 120 points. Add in 15 for being alive put you at 135 - but the max is 130 inactive points per year. (when I initially hit SelRes it was 90, before that it was 75, and in the beginning it was 60.) The one problem is people will occasionally drill too much either before or after their anniversary year and not max out at 130 - I have a couple of years in the 120's because of that.

exactly, I had a couple of years of 120 too, in the VP we got 48 reg/48 additional if wanted, acdutra as you wanted, it was nice, but i understand the $$ pinch nowdays. just get "good" years and finish!...thats the ticket!

 

[rotorhead1871]

It is easier just to do the math to get your percentage; Total Points/365 x 2.5 = % Retirement. If someone wanted to guesstimate their retirement they could take their active duty time x it by a reasonable number of points per year and go from there. If someone did 10 years active duty then was active in the reserves for 10 years they could easily just do; 3650 + 750 (for 75 points a year) / 2.5 = 30.1% at retirement.

You can plug and play the figures you want but that is easy math even for a History major like me to do and my original guesstimate from 10 years ago was pretty close to what I would get now, definitely close enough for government work.

good one!!...yea I remember a couple of ways for calculating the magic percent, but I have been retired 10 years so I haven't paid that much attention to the particulars ..just log the good years and get the prize!!

 

[Gatordev]

Training Command it was given that you would get 72. 48 IDT's + 72 AFTP's = 120 points. Add in 15 for being alive put you at 135 - but the max is 130 inactive points per year.

Ooo, good point. I'm trying to remember where that is written, but it vaguely sounds familiar. For my own education, any reference?

 

[Randy Daytona]

Ooo, good point. I'm trying to remember where that is written, but it vaguely sounds familiar. For my own education, any reference?

The Training Command is predicated on providing production days - 60 if I remember correctly but Jim123 can give you a better answer. As we know, you get 48 IDT's per year and a minimum 12 days of AT. Whiting always gave 72 AFTP's (technically the limit is 84 according to the NRUMS class I took long ago but I have never heard of anyone getting above 72.)

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-n...ons/BUPERSInstructions/Documents/1001.39F.pdf

If you mean the retirement formula, it is in Chapter 20:

5. The formula for computing retired pay is derived from 10 U.S.C., chapters 1401 and 1407 and section 12731 and is as follows: (P/360) X .025 X B = $ per month

In this formula “P” represents the total number of points allowed to be credited for retirement purposes over a member’s entire military career. Please note that point capture files are electronically maintained by NAVPERSCOM (PERS-9) and can be adjusted at anytime (even after retirement) provided the member has proper verification.

360 days (not 365) is used as the divider, to compress total points earned into years and partial years for purposes of calculating pay.

“.025” represents the “2.5% pay per year” standard used for calculating retired pay. Although certain active duty retirements were indexed differently for members entering military service after 1997, non-regular retired pay at age 60 remained payable at the 2.5% per year rate.

“B” represents the base pay available at the time the member starts receiving retired pay at or after age 60. For those who entered military service after 7 September 1980, the base pay is calculated by adding the base pay available for the member (commensurate with their rank and longevity) for each of the 36 preceding months prior to drawing retired pay, and dividing that by 36 to get an average pay rate for the final 3 years.

 

[DanMa1156]

Anyone know if going from active HTs to SELRES or FTS VTs is possible?

 

[Randy Daytona]

Anyone know if going from active HTs to SELRES or FTS VTs is possible?

Possible, but highly unlikely with the airline hiring boom - there is always a waiting list of active duty VT instructors already qualified in the T-6.

Edit: This is for SelRes. I will let a FTS speak to the latter.