October 16, 2019 by Editor
In most cases, if you served over 20 years in the Airforce or Army, you will be considered as a retiree and this goes up to 30 years for Navy and Marine Corps members. Any enlisted Navy or Marine Corps members with less than 30 years of service are transferred to what known as Fleet Marine Corps Reserve or Fleet Reserve and their pay is referred to as retainer pay.
Those who are given retainer pay can be recalled to active duty anytime the service wants them and because of this, military official refers to retainer pay as reduced pay for reduced service. So anyone who wants to fully retire need to be in service for more time.
Military retirement pay isn’t really similar to civilian retirement pay. You either qualify for retirement by honorably serving for over 20 years or you simply do not. The military pension will be computed according to the provisions of the Tower Amendment. That’s of course if it applies to the situation.
Also known as Tower Pay, it is computed by utilizing the current active duty pay rates, total service up until that date, your rate/rank, and all applicable cost-of-living increases.
Let’s give this an example by assuming a member at the rank of E-9 with 23 years, 6 months service on February 1, 2019. The military servicemen’s pay would be computed by
- 2.5% x 23.5 years = 58.75%
- 58.75% x $6,068.70
So, February 1, 2019 active duty rate for an E-9 with over 23 years of service would equal to about $3,565,45. On top of this, there is disability retirement. However, if a military service member has served for more than 20 years, they can retire without the need for disability. You can use the same formula to determine how much you would get paid in the military retirement pay chart.
If you have any form of disability that is rated by the military disability evaluation system at a 20% or lower, you are most likely to be discharged with severance pay. What this means is that you will not be paid less than 50% of your retired pay base.