Originally Posted by rickair7777

Ummm, unless I'm reading this wrong you *probably* have 9.75 years seniority and longevity. I know they may be telling you otherwise, talking about some sort of "five year limit" but that hypothetical limit is VERY narrowly defined and almost never applies post 9/11.

You need to get smart on USERRA as it applies to your specific case.

I suspect that your situation looks like this...

You took mil leave to join the army.

You attended some training, and graduated. At least one year? All exempt from the five year limit.

Upon completion of training, you incurred an active duty service obligation. I assume 3-5 years. Service to complete a training obligation is all exempt from the five year limit.

NONE of the above counts against the five year limit. So if that accounted for say at least five years of your military stint, then and only then does the five year absence clock start.

So five years exempt service plus maybe another three non-exempt would put you with still two years in which to claim your job and seniority back. Any other schools along the way which required OBLISERV? More time which doesn't count.

That's for regular active duty. If you were in the guard/reserve before you left and just went on extended orders, it may ALL be exempt depending on the orders.

So you should be a VERY senior FO to start. You could come back as a CA of course, but that would be VERY sketchy if you've never done it and been away that long. I'd start as an FO, and then upgrade in 6-8 months when you get back in the groove. Then you should still be a pretty senior CA.