Expert: Rod Powers - 5/8/2007

Question
QUESTION: Rod,

I will try and provide as much of my background information as possible...

I enlisted in the Nebraska Army National Guard in 1987, and in 1995 became a member of the Oregon Army National Guard.  I came in as an E1 earned E5 and then went to OCS.  I accepted a commission as a 2LT/E in 2001.  I was promoted to 1LT/E in 2003.  I have been recently passed over by the DA board for CPT, mainly due to referred OERs and not making the Height/Weight standards.  I will have 20 good retirement years in a month or so and I plan on taking my 20 years and leaving the Guard as a 1LT.

My question is this.  

Q1:  Is my rank as a 1LT protected for retirement pay consideration?  I am in the 18.5 - 20 year zone and I understand that protects my rank.  I ask this because there is always the possibility of being passed over a 2nd time and the fear of an administrative reduction or removal from service.

Q2. Since my 20 years is so close, I may just retire.  After retirement, should I go one step further and resign (vacate) my commission to avoid a future call-up?  If I do so, will it affect my ability to draw my Guard retirement money in 20 years when I turn 60?  

As I understand it, when an Officer's resignation (on good terms) is accepted the Officer gets an Honorable Discharge, so that  suggests to me that I would have nothing to worry about.

Q3: If this is OK, once I am retired, how do I go about resigning the commission?  Can I do this at the same time as when I am getting the 20 year retirement completed?

Thanks for any assistance you can offer on any or all of these questions.

j.

ANSWER: Hi J.,

As long as you have between 16 and 20 years of military service, you are protected against involuntary administrative separation, without the express permission of the Secretary of the Army. This is commonly called the "sancuary period."

You will retire at your highest paygrade held. The exception is to retire as a commissioned officer you must have at least 10 years (8 years with a waiver) as a commissioned officer to retire at your commissioned officer rank. As you were commissioned in 2001, that means (to retire at your commissioned officer rank), you would have to stay until at least 2009 (if you get the 8 year waiver), or 2011, if you don't.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Rod,  can you quote the law or regulation that states the 10 (8) year period?  I always understood that you simply had to hold the rank (or be commissioned) for 3 years.  Is it possibly different for a National Guard Officer?

Thanks,

j.

Answer
Hi J.,

It's from the Department of Defense Pay Regulation, Volume 7B, Chapter 1 (see: http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/fmr/07b/07b_01.pdf).

However, you may be correct. This may over be for active duty and reserve pay. If there are separate provisions for National Guard retirement pay, I don't know where they would be.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com