Here's some insight...


NO, YOU WILL NOT TOUCH ONE SINGLE MINUTE OF YOUR FIVE YEAR LIMIT.

There are NUMEROUS exceptions to the five year limit, you'd have to try pretty hard to actually burn any of it.

Initial military training is exempt.

Initial military obligated service is exempt.

Any addition obligation incurred by training/education commitments is exempt.

It's actually possible for an aviator to do his ten year initial obligation and THEN carefully incur additional obligations for training/education at key junctures and drag it out long enough to get a 20-year pension (probably have to use some or all of the five year limit for that).

So you can do 8-10 years or whatever the ask is, go back to the regionals with seniority intact as though you never left, and then finish out 20 in the guard/reserves. And still have all of your five years available (routine reserve/guard duty does not count either).

USERRA protections apply equally to active duty service regardless of whether you're guard, reserve, or regular AD.