We are all gnawing at the bit on this news right? Well you might want to ease down just a bit. The unofficial word is that Congress approved the 15 year retirement, but the DoD hasn’t authorized it. Potentially it looks as if this program will run through 2018. Want to know what is different about it versus the 1990′s? Literally nothing except the date. The military is looking to gain tools to draw itself down now that we are out of Iraq and slowly but surely we are getting ready to pull from Afghanistan.
One major item that pops out of what is coming down the pipe is the percentages for every 6 month increment you finish. You are not getting 40% for wrapping up 15 years. Instead they have calculated it down to percentages at 15 years, 15 and 6 months, 16 years, 16 years and 6 months…etc. We would love to give you the facts but they have not been officially released yet and the only glimpse of this plan coming down was from a look in an Air Force Times and we simply aren’t taken this as fact.
Are you thinking about punching at 15? How about 18? We can’t blame you. 2011 has been a rough year for solidarity from military and civilian leadership. The message from the top is “the ranks need to be thinned out now because we are broke”. The DoD attempt at a possible revamp of the military retirement earlier this year and now they are looking at every tool possible to include HYT rollbacks.
The military is about to go through the limited knowledge cycle again after drawing down the experienced members. We have seen this after the Gulf War and this time will be no different. Why? They don’t interview people before offering these programs. They get people out and ask questions later like: Where did all the talent go? Where is the experienced leaders? They took the separation pay, early retirements and went to go work for L3, Lockheed, and all the other contractors paying the big bucks. The military mind set has changed for many.
Since the push for education, skill improvements that come with technology, and the robust contracting system the government has embraced, military members are taking a second look at staying in uniform. A reasonable look at a 15 year retirement coming back says that there will be a LOT of folks looking at this option. They should be looking at this option as well. The potential gain in 5 years contracting on the outside could make a military member today, wealthy tomorrow. Deployment risk would become a thing of the past. Wondering if the 2 month fasting to prepare for the PT test will vanish. Lastly, The $30K a year in financial compensation will be doubled if not quadrupled for doing the same job the civilian counterpart does beside you.
When officially release of numbers, and intentions becomes available there is no doubt MilPages will do a comprehensive breakdown of what is to come of the 15 year retirement. If you are in this zone then you should be looking very hard at the pro’s and con’s of retiring early. You will see that there has been some important information added in the comments below. Please tell us what you think of this program.
The Air Force did this when I was at about 12 or 13 years in and it was devastating to those of us left because it gutted the mid to upper ranks and they promoted the lower ranks TOO soon! (Not enough experience) This is another bad idea under another LIBERAL administration! (Clinton was the President then)
Got to agree to disagree with you, Fred. I chatted with the XO about this today – he has greater freedom with the life he has planned after the military now. If he can retire at Major at 15 years, he can still work another job for 20 and be able to collect a decent double pension when he turns 60. I think it enables folks greater freedom, and helps very humanely with force reduction. Most folks don’t make the military their one career. As for folks being promoted too quickly, that’s a problem I’d rather have than folks not being promoted quickly enough…and losing talented service members to the civilian sector because they’re great soldiers, Marines et al but get stuck at E-4 for five years or O-4 for ten.
I agree with you Chesty that it is GOOD for those who take the 15 year retirement. What I meant by this being a “bad idea” is that it’s not necessarily good for the military in that you have too much inexperienced people trying to do a job that really needs and depends on experience, especially the highly technical jobs. Not really sure which is worse, too long in a rank or promoting too fast.
[...] Looking for the 15 year early retirement 2011? [...]
Thanks Mike, I appreciate the compliment!
I know an AGR guy that took the 15 yr retirement offered in the 90′s and fought his way back in a few years later! Unbelievable! But i guess with the mil anything is possible lol. He got to keep the sep pay too!
Well i would like to know a time frame on when this 15yr retirement plan will go into affect? does anyone know?
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The President signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 on December 31, 2011. Here is a link to the final copy of the NDAA 2012: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1540enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr1540enr.pdf
You will find in section 638b REINSTATEMENT OF CERTAIN TEMPORARY EARLY RETIREMENT AUTHORITY. It states here that there is a reinstatement of section 4403 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993. (i) will be amended to read as follows, “ACTIVE FORCE DRAWDOWN PERIOD- For purposes of this section, the active force drawdown period is the period beginning on the date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 and ending on December 31, 2018’’. Here is section 4403: SEC. 4403. TEMPORARY EARLY RETIREMENT AUTHORITY.
(a) PURPOSE- The purpose of this section is to provide the Secretary of Defense a temporary additional force management tool with which to effect the drawdown of military forces through 1995.
(b) RETIREMENT FOR 15 TO 20 YEARS OF SERVICE- (1) During the active force drawdown period, the Secretary of the Army may–
(A) apply the provisions of section 3911 of title 10, United States Code, to a regular or reserve commissioned officer with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service by substituting `at least 15 years’ for `at least 20 years’ in subsection (a) of that section;
(B) apply the provisions of section 3914 of such title to an enlisted member with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service by substituting `at least 15′ for `at least 20′; and
(C) apply the provisions of section 1293 of such title to a warrant officer with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service by substituting `at least 15 years’ for `at least 20 years’.
(2) During the active force drawdown period, the Secretary of the Navy may–
(A) apply the provisions of section 6323 of title 10, United States Code, to an officer with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service by substituting `at least 15 years’ for `at least 20 years’ in subsection (a) of that section;
(B) apply the provisions of section 6330 of such title to an enlisted member of the Navy or Marine Corps with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service by substituting `15 or more years’ for `20 or more years’ in the first sentence of subsection (a), in the case of an enlisted member of the Navy, and in the second sentence of subsection (b), in the case of an enlisted member of the Marine Corps; and
(C) apply the provisions of section 1293 of such title to a warrant officer with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service by substituting `at least 15 years’ for `at least 20 years’.
(3) During the active force drawdown period, the Secretary of the Air Force may–
(A) apply the provisions of section 8911 of title 10, United States Code, to a regular or reserve commissioned officer with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service by substituting `at least 15 years’ for `at least 20 years’ in subsection (a) of that section; and
(B) apply the provisions of section 8914 of such title to an enlisted member with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service by substituting `at least 15′ for `at least 20′.
(c) ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT- In order to be eligible for retirement by reason of the authority provided in subsection (b), a member of the Armed Forces shall–
(1) register on the registry maintained under section 1143a(b) of title 10, United States Code (as added by section 4462(a)); and
(2) receive information regarding public and community service job opportunities from the Secretary of Defense or another source approved by the Secretary and be afforded, on request, counseling on such job opportunities.
(d) REGULATIONS- The Secretary of each military department may prescribe regulations and policies regarding the criteria for eligibility for early retirement by reason of eligibility pursuant to this section and for the approval of applications for such retirement. Such criteria may include factors such as grade, years of service, and skill.
(e) COMPUTATION OF RETIRED PAY- Retired or retainer pay of a member retired (or transferred to the Fleet Reserve or Fleet Marine Corps Reserve) under a provision of title 10, United States Code, by reason of eligibility pursuant to subsection (b) shall be reduced by 1/12 th of 1 percent for each full month by which the number of months of active service of the member are less than 240 as of the date of the member’s retirement (or transfer to the Fleet Reserve or Fleet Marine Corps Reserve).
(f) FUNDING- (1) Notwithstanding section 1463 of title 10, United States Code, and subject to the availability of appropriations for this purpose, the Secretary of each military department shall provide in accordance with this section for the payment of retired pay payable during the fiscal years covered by the other provisions of this subsection to members of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of that Secretary who are being retired under the authority of this section.
(2) In each fiscal year in which the Secretary of a military department retires a member of the Armed Forces under the authority of this section, the Secretary shall credit to a subaccount (which the Secretary shall establish) within the appropriation account for that fiscal year for pay and allowances of active duty members of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of that Secretary such amount as is necessary to pay the retired pay payable to such member for the entire initial period (determined under paragraph (3)) of the entitlement of that member to receive retired pay.
(3) The initial period applicable under paragraph (2) in the case of a retired member referred to in that paragraph is the number of years (and any fraction of a year) that is equal to the difference between 20 years and the number of years (and any fraction of a year) of service that were completed by the member (as computed under the provision of law used for determining the member’s years of service for eligibility to retirement) before being retired under the authority of this section.
(4) The Secretary shall pay the member’s retired pay for such initial period out of amounts credited to the subaccount under paragraph (2). The amounts so credited with respect to that member shall remain available for payment for that period.
(5) For purposes of this subsection–
(A) the transfer of an enlisted member of the Navy or Marine Corps to the Fleet Reserve or Fleet Marine Corps Reserve shall be treated as a retirement; and
(B) the term `retired pay’ shall be treated as including retainer pay.
(g) COORDINATION WITH OTHER SEPARATION PROVISIONS- (1) A member of the Armed Forces retired under the authority of this section is not entitled to benefits under section 1174, 1174a, or 1175 of title 10, United States Code.
(2) Section 638a(b)(4)(C) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting `(other than by reason of eligibility pursuant to section 4403 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993)’ after `any provision of law’.
(h) MEMBERS RECEIVING SSB OR VSI- The Secretary of a military department may retire (or transfer to the Fleet Reserve or Fleet Marine Corps Reserve) pursuant to the authority provided by this section a member of a reserve component who before the date of the enactment of this Act was separated from active duty pursuant to an agreement entered into under section 1174a or 1175 of title 10, United States Code. The retired or retainer pay of any such member so retired (or transferred) by reason of the authority provided in this section shall be reduced by the amount of any payment to such member before the date of such retirement under the provisions of such agreement under section 1174a or 1175 of title 10, United States Code.
(i) ACTIVE FORCE DRAWDOWN PERIOD- For purposes of this section, the active force drawdown period is the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on October 1, 1995.
Under this section you will see the breakdown for each branch of service both officer and enlisted. Also note under (d) REGULATIONS- The Secretary of each military department may prescribe regulations and policies regarding the criteria for eligibility for early retirement by reason of eligibility pursuant to this section and for the approval of applications for such retirement. Such criteria may include factors such as grade, years of service, and skill.
You should expect to see information coming down from the Secretary of each military department soon. Remember you were informed first here on MilPages. We would appreciate it if you would share this with other military members. Don’t forget we are the only .com site that is FOR MILITARY, BY MILITARY that is here to keep our service members informed.
Hey, I know this writer!
So it will now be up to the DOD to pass this..and then each branch to approve it as well. If 15 years is the amount of years that you might need to retire..I wonder how long it will take for each branch to say yes. If each branch does say yes…will you have to be a certain rank? I know I am one of the people that fall into the whole less than 20 and more than 15 years.
The Navy did the ERB this past year. I think they almost let go 3,000 sailors. The rank on that was E-4 to E-8 with 7 years to 15 years of Active Federal Service. Those that were over 15 years were not looked at for getting the boot.
I see that the number 15 keeps coming up. Does having 15 years of service or more…have more weight than those with less than 15 years? I realize that those at 15 years of service have the intent of doing the 20 years and then retiring.
The Army put out a memo that was dated 14 November 2011..it basically said that they will be looking at the records of E-6 to E-9 for selection of getting involuntarily separated. Those that are E-6 and are selected for selected during one of the two boards (one board is for MOS that are over strength and the other board is for those who are not advancing to the next rank in the Army’s average time) well those who are E-6 will be given a chance to change their MOS…So that memo was dated 14 November 2011..I wonder now how much that memo will change with the President signing off on this new bill?
The reduction in force is indeed coming…I just hope that those with 15 years of Active Federal Service are treated the right way.
What do you all think will happen?
I think the memo you are referring to with the Navy is similar to the DOS Rollback that just happened with the Air Force. Here is a good article to read about that. http://www.milpages.com/blog/7572
Dan, Thanks for commenting on our post here on MilPages. As for your question about 15 years in service and why that number is important, they are just reinstating the TEMPORARY EARLY RETIREMENT AUTHORITY from National Defense Authorization Act of 1993. This act changes the eligible retirement date from 20 years to 15 years with guidelines set by each branch of service. Each branch of service has the ability to decide factors such as grade, years of service, and job skill.
Finally, what will happen next? My opinion is that just like in the early to mid 90′s when our military had a draw down that we will do the same thing over the next 2 to 3 years. Than, something will happen again and the military will have a major build up. This build up will cost our government more money in incentives to keep people around and recruit more members to join.
Well that is interesting. The link you provided about the Rollback. I read the article…I see that the AF was going after those that had less then 14 years and those over 20. I think it is interesting that 15 years or more are the number of years that the Navy and AF have been looking at as sort of not going after? I know yesterday the President and the SEC Def announced that the force will be smaller and we will make the force smaller over the next 10 years. I hope that the DOD does offer the 15 year retirement. It would be very sad for those of us who have over 15 years of service…to not get anything of substance/worth. I understand that 20 years is when people are suppose to retire…but when the force is cut back…and you have people with 15 or more years in..Let’s not break faith with them. I see the next few years going pretty crummy for the DOD…I am quite ready to hang my hat up…If the retirement thing does indeed go through.
has any one heard when they are going to announce the 15yr retirement plan??