Originally Posted by
rickair7777
I wouldn't leave with four years left in this economic environment, unless maybe you have an offer from one of the big three. Even then, if things get bad enough they might furlough too.
As for the reserves...with 16 AD your monthly retirement check would be significant. However..
- You won't get a dime until age 60, as I'm sure you know.
- Unlike the ANG, the navy reserve WILL NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES allow someone with 16 years AD to go on orders long enough to get a regular AD retirement...since the reserves, not AD, would have to pay for it. If you decide later that you want to finish 20 years AD, you would have to find a full-time ANG job for four years.
- You would have to serve for 8 years in the reserves to qualify for a reserve retirement...you would have to make O-5 in the reserves to avoid HYT, if you have not already done so. You would get the first board after you leave AD, so you would need to have your record in order before you leave. Even so, I think reserve HYT is 24 years for an O-5, so you would want to carefully research the rules and calculate your timing...even as an O-5 you might come up a bit short. The transition from AD may not provide a seamless one-for-one continuity of creditable years of service if you leave at the wrong time.
- And here's something to lose sleep over...reservists, not the navy, are responsible for their own being medical fitness for duty. If you get hurt or sick on civilian time, you may not be allowed to participate in the reserves to the extent needed to qualify for retirement.
Let's say you do 16 AD, then 6 drilling reserve for 22 total...then what happens if you get sick and are NPQ? Well, you have your 20, but you still need 8 in the reserves to get a reserve retirement...you are two years short. Suppose you get better in one year...well you need two more years but you are only allowed to stay until 24 years of comissioned service (unless you make O-6). You are one year short...I suppose you could write your congressman and try to get an HYT waiver at that point.
The gotcha here is that HYT is measured in years of commissioned service...this is a clock which ticks inexorably from your comissioning date, the only way to stop it is to resign. In the reserves, the years you need for retirement are not granted automatically...you have to participate a certain amount at certain times. If your participation falls short you can have fewer "good" years for retirement the you have years of comissioned service. If you reach HYT tenure for your paygrade before you get your 20 and 8, you may be hosed. It is normal to grant two years HYT waiver for someone with 18 good years of service, but I am not certain that they do that for someone who has the 20 but needs 8 in the reserves...that would be another thing to look into.
Just be aware that by going this route you are placing a lot of money on the table with some risk that you won't get to collect on it.
Thoughts on this Salty?
AS an AF Reserve IMA I can comment on this abit. Rick partly what you say is true, however there are many ways to skin this cat. First, as a AF Reserve IMA there is no HYT for an 0-4. (reference HQ ARPC website, Separations, MSD) You establish a HYT date once you've been passed over for 0-5 twice. You meet your first 0-5 board after you have completed one good year before the board meets, which it meets about June or so each year. For an 0-5 HYT would be 28yrs based on TFCSD.
The Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act (ROPMA) of 1996 changed the HYT rules.
As for ways to work the system. Remember you get a buttload of points for ACSC or AWC. While both of them suck to do. Once completed, you can get up to 2 years of points for each course which could put you over the 8yrs of reserve requirement should you have a medical problem.
I do know that the Navy has this policy about folks with high AD time getting to the 18year sanctuary, but as far as I know the AF does not have this. There are many cases with guys getting off AD with 16yrs getting to the reserves and building up heaps of AD time with long trips and such and making it to 20yrs AD with an immediate retirement. I would guess you would have about 25-26yrs of Total Commissioned Service by the 20yr AD point if you worked the system right. I can think of 3 folks that even made 0-6 doing this with an immediate 0-6 retirement! These guys all had 5-10yrs of longevity with their airline when they started to collect their immediate 0-6 retirement!
That being said, you can work the system too hard/well and medically stress yourself out way too early(before 20yrs service) (trying to make a reserve job into an AD one) and perhaps then you have something to worry about.
Lifter