A number of our readers are current or former Reserve Component (RC) personnel. Some of those may be still serving in the Reserve Components while also approaching the age at which contingency service would allow early receipt of retired pay.<\/p>\n
For that likely small subset, I\u2019d like to offer two points for consideration.<\/p>\n
First: early receipt of retired pay does not equate to all of the bennies of full military retirement. Specifically, RC personnel receiving early retired pay are NOT eligible for normal military retiree TRICARE coverage<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 Full TRICARE entitlement for those who retire under RC rules does not happen until age 60<\/span>, regardless of retired pay status. So even if you qualify for early receipt retired pay, you\u2019ll need to plan on obtaining healthcare from other than TRICARE until you hit the big six-zero.<\/p>\n Second:\u00a0 if you\u2019re a serving reservist, have recently been promoted, and are getting close to or are eligible for early retired pay \u2013 you might want to check time-in-grade requirements for your current grade before you apply for that early receipt of retired pay.\u00a0 The ABCMR recently ruled that such a retirement is voluntary vice involuntary<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 Thus, TIG requirements to retire at that grade are not waived; if you don\u2019t have enough TIG to retire at that grade, you won\u2019t.<\/p>\n While the linked case is Army-specific, I\u2019m also reasonably sure that that\u2019s the case for all services.\u00a0 Applying for retired pay – early or otherwise – under RC rules is a voluntary action.<\/p>\n Everyone\u2019s situation is different. In some cases the grade reduction might be worth it to receive retired pay earlier; in others, it won\u2019t. Everyone has to make that decision on their own.<\/p>\n Just be forewarned if you\u2019re in that situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"