Reserve Benefits for Less than 20 years of Service

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Education.

I am over 40 and am in the process of joining the Airforce Reserves. I had my Chief Nurse interview yesterday, although it went well I am perplexed about something. The Colonel was trying to persuade me not to join due to my age. I am over the age to complete 20 years. He said I would recieve no benefits for my service. I am not recieving a bonus or loan repayment which I understood before starting the process. I have no loans and already have an advanced degree.

Here are my questions, to any older commissioned officers: Do I recieve any type of money toward retirement or any medical benefits? Can I get the GI Bill and transfer it to my son?

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Specializes in EMT, ER, Homehealth, OR.

How much of the GI bill you can transfer depends on your length of service. As far as retirement pay & medical after you retire you must have 20 good years to be able to draw both. As long as you are drilling there is tricare available for you, not sure of the cost and which level of tricare thou.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Education.

Thank you for responding. My recruiter says I don't qualify for the GI Bill since I already have an advanced degree. I planned on transferring it to my son.

I knew I wasn't getting anything for signing on, but I was under the impression there was prorated retirement. My main motivation was to care for the soldiers, however the unit I would drill at does not do patient care. It is 2 hours away and I would need to stay in a nearby hotel. I would also have to keep my perdiem job in the Emergency Room which I planned on quitting once I commissioned. Since the unit does not do patient care I must ensure a certain amount of hours in the civilian hospital. My full time job is as an educator now so I must keep per diem status.

I am very disappointed. It is becoming a hardship for me to join. I would be taking on a third job and would be accruing more cost between hotel, driving, uniforms and I wouldn't even be able to do any nursing care. There are no other bases that are commuting distance.

Any ideas if active duty would offer anything different for an older commission?

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Thank you for responding. My recruiter says I don't qualify for the GI Bill since I already have an advanced degree. I planned on transferring it to my son.

I knew I wasn't getting anything for signing on, but I was under the impression there was prorated retirement. My main motivation was to care for the soldiers, however the unit I would drill at does not do patient care. It is 2 hours away and I would need to stay in a nearby hotel. I would also have to keep my perdiem job in the Emergency Room which I planned on quitting once I commissioned. Since the unit does not do patient care I must ensure a certain amount of hours in the civilian hospital. My full time job is as an educator now so I must keep per diem status.

I am very disappointed. It is becoming a hardship for me to join. I would be taking on a third job and would be accruing more cost between hotel, driving, uniforms and I wouldn't even be able to do any nursing care. There are no other bases that are commuting distance.

Any ideas if active duty would offer anything different for an older commission?

Lucy, I too am older than 40 and have investigated military service. I am now an RN, but want to become a PA. The navy commander and MD to whom I spoke said that there are some modest retirement benefits for ten years of service, so that's the route I'm taking when I get my PA-C. Another avenue to consider: I know a former USN corpsman-turned-PA who went into the USPS, which allowed her to keep her commission and accumulated years toward retirement. Don't know if their retirement ages are different from the military, but maybe they are - so look into it.

Far as the hoops the service is making you jump through, go in with your eyes open. Right or wrong, the military is quite biased against people over 40 if they are NPS (non-prior service) or not already in uniform. The system just isn't set up to "handle" middle-aged people who are new to the military. Military personnel policies haven't always kept up with the times, and are - in some ways - products of a by-gone age.

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade here, but my advice is to plan for the future and set aside some money on your own. Given the fiscal situation and budgetary realities of the nation, there is no guarantee that the pensions promised to military personnel will be there in 15-20 years, or that if they remain, they will not be reduced.

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Thank you for responding. My recruiter says I don't qualify for the GI Bill since I already have an advanced degree. I planned on transferring it to my son.

I knew I wasn't getting anything for signing on, but I was under the impression there was prorated retirement. My main motivation was to care for the soldiers, however the unit I would drill at does not do patient care. It is 2 hours away and I would need to stay in a nearby hotel. I would also have to keep my perdiem job in the Emergency Room which I planned on quitting once I commissioned. Since the unit does not do patient care I must ensure a certain amount of hours in the civilian hospital. My full time job is as an educator now so I must keep per diem status.

I am very disappointed. It is becoming a hardship for me to join. I would be taking on a third job and would be accruing more cost between hotel, driving, uniforms and I wouldn't even be able to do any nursing care. There are no other bases that are commuting distance.

Any ideas if active duty would offer anything different for an older commission?

advanced degree should not disqualify you for gi bill.

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The reserves have a very different GI Bill than AD. And even if you were AD the VA is in the process of revamping the ability to transfer the GI Bill (it was intended as a retention tool and not an entitlement, and since it has been abused by the military (they give it away and the VA pays for it...) there will be very few fields that will be able to transfer the GI Bill.

As far as retirement before 20, I have only heard of programs that are trying to thin certain active duty populations. But as a military member you are permitted to contribute to the TSP, a very nice 401k.

Military Service is a hardship. Plain and simple, thats why our society thinks so highly of our service members, and if that is too much then perhaps its not for you.

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the transferability varies by service - in other branches it is job immaterial but the transferability is a retention tool as previous poster said... where you need a minimum amt of time in service and time on contract. It's a new 'thing' with the new chp33 bill and the transferability retention tool being given to branches of the military so the idea that it is static and could not change over time *for better/worse is false.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

As I understand retirement is 62 but waiverable to 64. If you are 44 or younger now you could make your twenty. You don't know if that will change in the future, it could well be raised, just as entry ages have been going up, but you can't bet on that. I am about to sign also with AFR and I'm 45. I'm not doing it for the retirement but I am getting a bonus, although I haven't seen it in writing yet. Perhaps that changes by region (?). Best of luck!

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Specializes in critical care: trauma/oncology/burns.
As I understand retirement is 62 but waiverable to 64. If you are 44 or younger now you could make your twenty. You don't know if that will change in the future, it could well be raised, just as entry ages have been going up, but you can't bet on that. I am about to sign also with AFR and I'm 45. I'm not doing it for the retirement but I am getting a bonus, although I haven't seen it in writing yet. Perhaps that changes by region (?). Best of luck!

Hello All:

Retirement is 62 but depending upon the needs of the Army age can be waiverable up to and including age 68 if you have a skill set that is marketable for the Army, for example being a 8A or 5M. This is for AC (Active Component only, not sure about RC)

athena

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