Jonn’s recent article about the recent QRMC proposal concerning military reserve compensation got me thinking. So I guess you should consider this fair warning that I’m about to go down another rabbit hole. (smile)
Introduction
The 11th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation (QRMC) has proposed a significant change in the way Reserve Component personnel are compensated, both while serving in the reserves and during retirement. In a nutshell, this proposal would reduce drill compensation significantly, and would reduce overall retirement credit (and thus retirement pay) less dramatically. In exchange, the QRMC proposes to allow a Reservist to begin receiving retirement pay substantially earlier – for many, between 7 and 13 years earlier – than allowed by current law (age 60 unless one qualifies for retirement under Active Component rules, for disability retirement, or for early receipt of Reserve retired pay due to contingency service) .
The obvious question arises: is this a good deal or not? And if it’s a good deal, for whom: the government, the Reservist, both – or neither?
What I’m going to attempt below is to come up with some numbers for a few representative scenarios. The first involve Reservists who are pure Reservists (no prior active duty) and serve 20, 25, and 30 year careers under each system. The second set of scenarios involve Reservists who have 4 years active duty prior to going into the reserves, then complete a 20, 25, or 30 year career in the reserves.