The military services have set age limits for commissioned officers and enlisted personnel in order to retain the highest possible number of active duty personnel. A service member must meet the age limit by a date certain or they will continue to observe their entry into retirement as though they had retired that day. The exact date a service member reaches their retirement age depends on the branch of service, rank, time served, and length of time after they entered military service.
The oldest possible time to retire is when you are 62 years old. This is called your retirement eligibility date (DER). Your DER becomes your retirement day. If you are an officer, your DER is the earlier of six months before your 57th birthday or October 31st in the year in which you reach that birthday. If you are an enlisted person, your DER is the earlier of six months before your 50th birthday or December 31st in the year in which you reach that birthday.
There are many exceptions to these rules, but it’s important to understand how they work as well as what needs to be done before reaching your DER if at all possible. For example, if you are separated from military service under honorable conditions before reaching your DER but have not reached it by another specific cutoff date, there is still a chance for you to retire earlier than normal; however, it will be difficult and require the support of many other people besides yourself. It may also be advisable to explore other career paths while
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What you need to know before reaching your DER
There are many things you need to do in order to ensure that you meet your DER and retire. For example, if you entered military service on October 31st in 1992, your DER would be December 31st of that same year. However, there are other things you can do to decrease the chance of reaching your DER prematurely. As an example, if you’re told that because of a medical condition or disability, you should retire by the time you reach your 62nd birthday but fail to meet your retirement eligibility date (DER) by October 31st, it will be difficult for you to retire before 1964. You might be able to postpone your retirement until January 1st in 1965, however. Other possible exceptions include enlistment under a specific enlistment program that only applies to members who do not serve consecutively beyond certain dates.
Late Retirement Eligibility Date (LERD)
If you are a commissioned officer, your LERD is the earlier of six months before your 50th birthday or September 30th in the year in which you reach that birthday. If you are an enlisted person, your LERD is the earlier of six months before your 45th birthday or September 30th in the year in which you reach that birthday.
As mentioned above, there are exceptions to these rules, but they are only applicable if the service member has not reached their DER by performing certain tasks. The service member must meet all requirements for committing to retirement before their LERD on or after their DER. For example, if you have already retired from service and your DER is currently October 31st in the year of your birth, but you haven’t met all requirements for retirement by January 10th of the same year, then your LERD would be March 10th.
If a commissioned officer has not met all requirements for retirement and has not yet reached his or her DER on their 60th birthday, there is still a chance for them to retire earlier than normal; however, it will be difficult and require support from many other people besides themselves. It may also be advisable to explore other career paths.
When is it possible to retire after your DER?
It is possible to retire after your DER if:
* You are a full-time student.
* You are medically retired.
* You are on active duty status with the reserves or National Guard.
* You have been retired in conjunction with an approved retirement program (e.g., RIF, early out, etc.).
* You are discharged from service under other than honorable conditions and you retire before reaching your DER but after the cut-off date for that condition. It’s important to note that if you were separated for any other reason and not for either honorable or dishonorable reasons, you will still reach your DER at the same time as those who were discharged for honorable or dishonorable reasons and it may be difficult to receive retirement benefits based on this separation. If you have been separated from service under either honorable or dishonorable conditions, it’s best to apply as soon as possible because there is no guarantee that your application will be approved at all.
Exceptions to the rule
The Army and Marine Corps have special rules for those who enter military service after the age of 35.
-Marines: If you are a Marine, you can retire at any time after reaching your DER if you’ve received an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps or are retired due to disability.
-Army: If you are an Army Officer, you’ll be able to retire at any time after reaching your DER by meeting one of these requirements: An officer must complete 20 years of active military service, or have completed 30 years of active military service with 5 years or less in grade less than General Officer rank. An officer must complete 25 years of active military service, or have completed 40 years of active military service with 10 years or less in grade less than General Officer rank. An officer must complete 30 years of active military service, or have completed 50 years of active military service with 15 years or less in grade less than General Officer rank. An officer must complete 40 years of active military service, or have completed 60 years of active military service with 20 years or less in grade less than General Officer rank. An enlisted member who is eligible for retirement may initiate retirement upon their DER if they meet these requirements: After having served at least 20 continuous months on active duty since separation from Reserve Commissioned Service; OR after having served at least 15 continuous months on Active Duty since separation from Reserves.
Final date to retire — Service member’s 64th birthday
The service member’s 64th birthday is the final date to retire.
The only certain way to retire — TIA Retired Early Date (TERD)
If you have left military service, there is one way for you to retire without interrupting your military service. This is called the TIA Retired Early Date (TERD).
The TERD is the earlier of six months before your 60th birthday or December 31st in the year in which you reach that birthday. These rules are complicated and require careful consideration with many exceptions. It’s important to know how the TERD works and what it takes to get it before you retire.
The only way to be sure you will retire on time and don’t wait until the last minute
The only way to be sure you will retire on time and don’t wait until the last minute is to ensure that you have met your DER by a specific date. If you have met your DER but have not retired yet, try to find out what the latest possible date you would retire would be. For example, if your DER is June 30th and you retire on September 1st, it may be best for you to retire on July 1st or even earlier than that. The sooner you retire, the more options available to you in terms of what career path to take.
There are many exceptions to these rules and exceptions are limited, so it’s important to understand them before they bite you in the ass!
Conclusion
Retiring after your DER is not as easy as it looks. There are a lot of rules and regulations that need to be followed in order for you to retire on time. If you are reaching your DER and you are unsure if you will retire on time, contact your command and learn more about the retirement process.
The retirement process can be overwhelming for anyone, but many service members don’t realize their DER is approaching until it’s too late. If you are reaching your DER and you don’t know what to do, contact your command for help with the retirement process.
FAQ’s
When is a service member eligible to retire?
A service member who has at least 20 years of service, who is under age 60, and who is not on an extended military activation may retire at any time with a 10-year loan from the military. They must, however, receive a qualified medical discharge before they can take this loan.
Military Service Members:
Retirees:
The military will deduct a 10% processing fee from the loan amount.
If you are at least 62 years old, you may receive your Personal Ready Reserve Health Benefits from your retirement package. This health benefit includes medical care and health insurance for you and your family for up to 36 months if you go back to active duty for 20 years or less or 40 months if you go back for 21-40 years.
If you were discharged due to a physical disability or medical condition that lasted more than four months, but less than a year, you may qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits. The maximum benefit is $1,150 per month.
How long must a service member serve in order to retire?
There are five requirements a service member must meet before they can retire:
1. You must be at least 62 years old.
2. You must have at least 20 years of service creditable under any of the following:
a. The Reserve, Retired, or Active Duty General and Flag Officer grades (O-10 through O-8).
b. The Reserve, Retired, or Active Duty O-9 through O-6 Grades (O-7 through O-5).
c. The Reserve, Retired, or Active Duty O-7 through O-.05 grades (0-1 through 0-4).
d. Members who serve less than 90 days in any calendar year will not have Credit for Continuation of Service credited against their Service creditable under subparagraphs b and c above, nor shall they have Service credit credited under subparagraph a above. Credit for Continuation of Service may only be applied after return from leave without pay for periods that do not exceed 90 days in any calendar year.
e. Officers who served in the Armed Forces prior to commissioning with the National Guard or Reserves and then entered active duty as an officer (including Officers on extended active duty or temporary recall to active duty) pursuant to Title 10 USC 12301(d)(1)(A) and 12301(d)(2)(D) but did not serve on full-time active duty status (as defined in DoDI 1400.14).
f. Officers who served in the Armed Forces prior to commissioning with the National Guard or Reserves and then entered active duty as an officer (including Officers on extended active duty or temporary recall to active duty) pursuant to Title 10 USC 12301(d)(1)(C) and 12301(d)(2)(E).
g. Members of the Individual Ready Reserve who are involuntarily recalled to a reserve status under 10 USC 10902(f), 10 USC 12302(f), 12304(f), 12305(f), or 12401(f).
h. Members of the Military Officer Debriefing Team (MIDT) program when participating in Active Duty for training as described in DoD Instruction 1300.55 section 3(c) and DoD Instruction 1300 .38 section 1 .
i .Members serving on second tour who are entitled to military retired pay under 10 UH 11 -11 CPM 14084 .
What is the retirement eligibility age for different branches of service?
The military service retirement eligibility age depends on your rank and length of time served. The following chart shows the retirement eligibility ages for different ranks and amounts of time served:
Eligibility is 62 for an enlisted service member who entered the military at age 18 and has served 20 years. Eligibility is also 62 for an enlisted service member who entered the military at age 18 and has served 10 years.
Eligibility is 55 for a commissioned officer who entered the military at age 18 and has served 20 years. Eligibility is also 55 for a commissioned officer who entered the military at age 18 and has served 10 years.
Eligibility is 42 for a commissioned officer who entered the military at age 18 and has served 10 but less than 20 years. Eligibility is also 42 for a commissioned officer who entered the military between 19 and 21 and has served 10 but less than 20 years.
Eligibility is 37 for a commissioned officer who entered the military between 20 and 24 but did not complete college graduation requirements. Eligibility is also 37 for a commissioned officer who did not complete college graduation requirements but has completed some form of on-the-job training with two years of service that equals two college credit hours per year (two hours per week). Besides obtaining two college credit hours per year, you must complete two additional specialties that count as four credit hours each (880 hours total), as described in MILPERSMAN Circular 1899 by Janine Stroud. One of these specialties must be in FCO-2 or FCO-4 (communication). If you have already completed FCO-2 or FCO-4, you can count 880 hours towards your Life Choice Award (LCA) through BAH 4863/02.
Eligibility is 35 for a commissioned officer whose degree or training qualifies them to serve as an advisor to foreign governments, international organizations, or civil authorities in their respective countries. You must meet both of these criteria before you reach your retirement eligibility age: no more than 30 years of service, have earned a PhD degree, have received approval from HQUSAF HQCFPAC/CFPM to serve in this capacity, be accepted onto some approved UC program, and have completed basic intelligence training in preparation for your government assignment. The UC Program approval comes from AFCC in PISCATAWAY NJ . It’s up to USUCOPADCOM to make
