Understanding Military Retirement Pay
Monday July 30, 2007
The military retirement pay system used to be easy to understand: You put in 20 years, and you got 50 percent of your base pay immediately upon retirement. You put in more than 20 years and you got 2.5 percent more for each year of active duty after 20 years (up to 75 percent).
During the draw-down of the late 80s and early 90s, Congress decided military retirement pay was too simple, and decided to complicate it.
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For AD/Active Duty personnel, be they full-time active, eg RA/Regular Army, etc, or Reserve Component personnel on AD, it’s pretty straight-forward…one day in uniform = one retirement point; Drill days/Muster days are twofers, that is, one retirement point is awarded for each AM/PM segment of the Drill/Muster day. AD/Retirement points are also awarded for Title 32/Title 10 (State/Fed), as well as ADSW (Active Duty for Special Works). Lastly, points for approved Military Corespondence coursework can be accumulated during those periods when one is in need of a cure for insomnia! The long and the short of it, young warriors, particularly those in the RC/Reserve Components…if you think you may want to, someday, realize a retirement income…modest, though it may be…keep your eyes open to AD options. There’s the ole addage…”There’s three kinds of fools in the Military, the garden variety fool, the darn (sic) fool, and the volunteer”! Don’t be afraid to volunteer at the appropriate times. It’s what service is all about!