letsfly

So after reading all I can on military.com and related sites, I still don't have an answer to my reserve retirement question so here it goes:

"So lets say I did 10 years active duty and 10 qualifying years reserve and then I get out of the military completely. To make it easy lets say I DID NOT do 90 days total in any year while in the reserves. So when do I start collecting money for retirement and how much? When do I start getting health care benefits?"

Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

Letsfly

rickair7777

After you retire from the reserves in your forties, you will be a "grey area" retiree. You will not get pay or medical benefits, but you do have the other benefits, mostly access to facilities. You can get on base, use the gym, pool, commissary, exchange, lodging (space A), etc. and I think you might be able to fly space-a on military flights (not 100% sure).

Without doing any qualifying active duty for early retirement pay, you start getting pay and benefits on your 60th birthday.

Pay amount depends on active vs. reserve split, total years of service, and final rank. Your service time is measured in points, with each active duty day equal to one point, and each reserve drill day equal to two points.

Also, we have to make some assumptions....military retirement is NOT contractually guaranteed, we get what the government in power decides to give us when the time comes. Fair assumption is that it will be similar to what it is today, with COLA increases. These numbers are what you would get if you turned 60 today.


Bare minimum participation for 20 years, no mobilization after AD release:

10 years active duty: 3650 points
10 years reserve: 750 points
Total Points: 4400
Rank: O-4 (MAJ/LCDR)

This give you about $2,000/month in today's dollars



Best case, assume at least 2 years recall after AD release, with high drill participation and additional AT/ADT, etc. Say 130 drill points (max allowed) + 30 days AT/ADT each year.

12 years active duty: 4380 points
8 years reseve: 1400 points
Total points: 5780
Rank: 0-5 (LCOL/CDR)

This gives you about $3000/month in today's dollars.

If you stay beyond 20 AND get promoted to O-6 (COL/CAPT) your monthly retirement goes up a lot.

Note that your retirement increases with reserve participation...unless your airline pays REALLY well, you are probably better off doing a lot of military in your early airline years, since that also boosts your military retirement pay.


I used the navy calculator, but it should be the same for all branches:

https://staynavytools.bol.navy.mil/RetCalc/Default.aspx

UAL T38 Phlyer

You didn't say if you were a TR or an AGR, but I'm assuming TR.

I asked the same question a year ago. I got confusing answers, but as best I understand it, you get medical coverage for you and any qualifying DEERS dependent(s) at any military facility on a space-available basis, after you turn 60. The rule you avoided in your opening (90-days, and how it affects early pay-out) does NOT give early medical--that I'm sure of.

I think you can buy some kind of tricare supplement to go to your local docs if you don't live near a mil facility.

That's why (space-a) you see all those old retirees sitting around in the clinic or hospital all day. They only get seen when everyone else is done.

Which for me, means eventually I'll have two almost worthless benefits: free medical from the USAF, and free passes on UAL. I'll be in line so long, I'll forget why I was there in the first place.

(And, you can get a USAF retirement calculator on-line; I think I got mine from AFRPC. But rick is right: the Navy one should work as well).

rickair7777

Space-A military medical would be problematic, but my understanding is that TriCare is a pretty good deal...I know retired folks who claim that it saves them thousands of dollars compared to medicare or private plans.

130drvr

Rickair,

Excellent synopsis!! Truly.. I have recently been doing the calculating and arrived at the same numbers using the ARPC website calculator, Air Reserve Personnel Center - Home I think.

One other interesting tidbit I saw in a Military Officer Assn magazine was that there is a bill, or maybe just an effort, to move the reserve retirement to 55, without ever doing the 90 active duty days per year.

The big takeaway I have is make sure you max the point total every year(130pts)

Another little thing I have discovered is the VRS website for AF dudes( https://www.my.af.mil/reservenetprod...efaultvrs.aspx ), to volunteer for TDYs, like 120 days to Germany, for example, that would be great ways to max out points, move up your retirement age and NOT have to go to the sandbox.

McBoeingBus

Currently it is possible to reduce your retirement to age 50. This is based on a 90 day for 90 day reduction from age 60. This rule didn't go into effect until late Jan 08. If you do qualify for a reduced retirement, you will still not receive a medical benifit until you are 60, but at least you get the money. There are bills in both houses of congress to backdate the retirement benefit from Jan 08 to 9-11-01. This would bring tens of thousands of guardsmen and reservists closer to retirement. Write your congressman and senator and ask them to support the reduced reserve retirement bill. Most of these questions can be answered at www.roa.org. They are one of the groups that lobby congress for us. I encourage you to join.

MBB

flybynuts

[quote=130drvr;608664]Rickair,


One other interesting tidbit I saw in a Military Officer Assn magazine was that there is a bill, or maybe just an effort, to move the reserve retirement to 55, without ever doing the 90 active duty days per year.


This has been an ongoing battle for years. It was getting close to moving into the house/senate for passing right before OIF. Since the budget required to do this is really large and long lasting, it got killed fast. I would love to see this happen but it would take a big push from some big politicians. I am just glad that we get TRS for only 180 bucks.

As for the retired medical...my mom got cancer when my dad turned 60 and it helped a lot in terms of care and costs. Well worth it for big health issues in the long run.

rickair7777

True Statement. Do correspondence/online courses on the road if needed. Maxing out the drill points over a ten-year period adds up to a chunk of change at the end.

Gunpig

Can you only get 130 pts for a year or is that the limit for IDTs?

rickair7777

That is the IDT limit...drills plus 15 points gratis. Drills includes non-pay and correspondence/online training.

If you do admin work at home, hopefully your command will allow you to claim non-pay dills if you don't get RMP's.


AT/ADT/Mobilization, etc is not capped at 130 IIRC.

However...you cannot get more than 365/366 points in a year. If you do a butt-load of IDT early in the year and then get mobed you might not get all the points you earned. It would be hard to achieve that, but my wife did once with pre-mob preps.