Guard and Reserve retirement glossary

20-year letter (notification of eligibility)

The written notice your service sends when you've completed the years of service for non-regular retired pay. The law requires it within one year after you complete that service, and the 90-day window for the survivor-plan election begins the day you receive it.

10 U.S.C. 12731(d); 10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(2)(B)

Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) duty

Active duty under 10 U.S.C. 12301(d) to organize, administer, recruit, instruct or train the reserve components. It doesn't count toward a reduced retirement age.

10 U.S.C. 12310(a); 10 U.S.C. 12731(f)(2)(B)(i) · Reduced retirement age guide

Anniversary year

The 12-month year your retirement points are counted in. It starts on the date you entered active service or an active status in a reserve component, and it changes only after a break in service.

DoDI 1215.07 ¶3.1.b(2), ¶3.1.c(1) · Points guide

Annual training

Yearly training duty. 10 U.S.C. 12301(b) allows up to 15 days of active duty a year without the member's consent, and 32 U.S.C. 502(a) requires Guard units to train at least 15 days each year. Neither authority is on the reduced-retirement-age list, and a two-week tour doesn't produce a DD-214.

10 U.S.C. 12301(b); 32 U.S.C. 502(a); 10 U.S.C. 12731(f)(2)(B); DAFI 36-3202 Table A2.1 · Reduced retirement age guide

ARPC

The Air Reserve Personnel Center. It prepares some DD-214s, generates the Air National Guard's NGB Form 22, and runs the Reserve Retirement Counseling Cell, which offers one-on-one retirement counseling.

DAFI 36-3202 ¶2.2.1; ANGI 36-3201 ¶1.2; ARPC Retirements page

Basic pay date (pay date)

The date that sets your years of service for longevity pay; the Air Force calls it the pay date. It reflects all service creditable toward longevity, and your servicing personnel office can provide a statement of service that shows it.

DoD FMR Vol 7A, Ch 1, ¶2.1.1.1-2.1.1.2

Blended Retirement System (BRS)

The retirement system for members who first performed reserve component service on or after January 1, 2018, with no service before that date, and for members who opted in. Its multiplier is 2.0% a year instead of 2.5%.

10 U.S.C. 12739(f) · Retired pay guide

Contingency operation

A military operation the Secretary of Defense designates as one in which members are or may become involved in hostilities, or one that results in calling members to active duty under listed authorities such as 12302, or under any other law during a war or a national emergency.

10 U.S.C. 101(a)(13) · DD-214 guide

Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)

The yearly increase in retired pay for changes in the Consumer Price Index. The first one after pay starts is prorated from the quarter pay began, and after each increase the monthly pay is rounded down to the dollar.

10 U.S.C. 1401a(b), (d); DoD FMR Vol 7B, Ch 3, ¶2.9.1 · Reduced retirement age guide

DD-214

The Certificate of Uniformed Service: the discharge certificate or certificate of release from active duty. A Guard or Reserve member should get one after 90 or more continuous days of active duty, after more than 30 days on a contingency operation, or, on our reading of the Air Force table's rule 7, after a 12301(a) or 12302 mobilization of any length.

DoDI 1336.01 ¶1.2.a, ¶3.2.a; DAFI 36-3202 Table A2.1, rules 3, 4 and 7 · DD-214 guide

DD Form 214-1

The Reserve Component Addendum to the DD-214; together they're the standard record of service for Guard and Reserve members. It's issued with a DD-214 when a member leaves a reserve component or transfers to the Retired Reserve, among other cases, and shows points, creditable service and the non-regular retirement dates, including any reduced-age credit.

DoDI 1336.01 ¶1.2.b, ¶3.2.b, Table 2

DD Form 215

A correction to a DD-214. DoDI 1336.01 allowed it in place of a reissued DD-214 until three years after its February 2022 publication, and after that only for a DD-214 that was never issued electronically.

DoDI 1336.01 ¶3.2.c · DD-214 guide

DMDC service report

The Defense Manpower Data Center's report of your activation and deployment periods. DMDC is DoD's official distribution source of certified service and separation data for active service completed on or after January 1, 2015.

DoDI 1336.01 ¶2.3.b, ¶3.4.a

Eligibility age

The age when non-regular retired pay can start: 60, or earlier with reduced-age credit, never below 50. Pay starts only on application.

10 U.S.C. 12731(a), (f) · Reduced retirement age guide

Force support squadron (FSS) and military personnel section (MPS)

Your unit's personnel offices. The FSS or military personnel flight prepares most DD-214s for unit-assigned members, and in the Air Force Reserve the military personnel section answers unit members' questions about participation requirements.

DAFI 36-3202 ¶2.5.2.1.1; DAFMAN 36-2136 ¶4.12.4.2

Good year (qualifying year)

An anniversary year with at least 50 retirement points. Non-regular retired pay needs 20 of them.

10 U.S.C. 12732(a)(2), 12731(a)(2); DoDI 1215.07 ¶3.1.a · Points guide

Gray area

DFAS's term for the time between retiring from the Guard or Reserve (stopping drilling), once qualified for retired pay, and the date you can start receiving it. It applies even if you're in the Retired Reserve.

DFAS, Air Force Gray Area Retirees page

High-3

The average of your 36 highest months of basic pay. For a Guard or Reserve retiree, each month is priced as if you had served on active duty for the whole month.

10 U.S.C. 1407(d) · Retired pay guide

HQ RIO

The Headquarters Individual Reservist Readiness and Integration Organization, the office for individual reservists' questions about participation.

DAFMAN 36-2136 ¶4.12.3

Individual mobilization augmentee (IMA)

An individual reservist in the Air Force Reserve. HQ RIO answers IMAs' participation questions, and ARPC prepares their DD-214s.

DAFMAN 36-2136 ¶4.12.3, Attachment 1; DAFI 36-3202 ¶2.2.1.2.3

Membership points

Fifteen points a year for membership in a reserve component, prorated for part of a year.

10 U.S.C. 12732(a)(2)(C)(i); DoDI 1215.07 ¶3.4.d, Table 2 · Points guide

Multiplier

The percentage of the retired pay base you receive: 2.5% for each year of service (2.0% under the Blended Retirement System).

10 U.S.C. 12739(a), (f) · Retired pay guide

NGB Form 22

The Air National Guard's Report of Separation and Record of Service. ARPC generates it when a member is discharged, separated or retires from the Guard.

ANGI 36-3201 ¶1.1-1.2 · DD-214 guide

Orders under 10 U.S.C. 12301(b)

Active duty of up to 15 days a year without the member's consent. It isn't on the reduced-retirement-age list.

10 U.S.C. 12301(b); 10 U.S.C. 12731(f)(2)(B)

Orders under 10 U.S.C. 12301(d)

Active duty with the member's consent. It counts toward a reduced retirement age, except Active Guard and Reserve duty.

10 U.S.C. 12301(d); 10 U.S.C. 12731(f)(2)(B)(i) · Reduced retirement age guide

Orders under 10 U.S.C. 12302

Involuntary active duty for Ready Reserve members in a national emergency declared by the President. It's a contingency-operation authority, so it counts toward a reduced retirement age, and on our reading of the Air Force table's rule 7 its release calls for a DD-214 whatever the length.

10 U.S.C. 12302(a); 10 U.S.C. 101(a)(13)(B); 10 U.S.C. 12731(f)(2)(B)(i); DAFI 36-3202 Table A2.1, rule 7 · Reduced retirement age guide

Orders under 10 U.S.C. 12304b

Active duty for Selected Reserve units ordered for preplanned missions in support of the combatant commands. It counts toward a reduced retirement age.

10 U.S.C. 12304b(a); 10 U.S.C. 12731(f)(2)(B)(i); DoDI 1215.07 ¶3.5.b(1) · Reduced retirement age guide

Orders under 32 U.S.C. 502(f)

National Guard training or other duty in addition to drills and annual training, with or without the member's consent. Some 502(f)(2) duty responding to a national emergency counts toward a reduced retirement age.

32 U.S.C. 502(f); 10 U.S.C. 12731(f)(2)(B)(ii); DoDI 1215.07 ¶3.5.b(2) · Reduced retirement age guide

Points for retired pay

Every day of active service, plus drill, membership and similar points up to each year's cap. Divided by 360, they give your years of service for retired pay.

10 U.S.C. 12733; DoD FMR Vol 7B, Ch 3, ¶2.5.2 · Retired pay guide

Points statement

The Air Force's year-by-year record of your retirement points, kept in the Point Credit Accounting and Reporting System (PCARS) in MILPDS.

DAFMAN 36-2136 ¶4.12.1.5 · Points guide

RCSBP

The Reserve Component Survivor Benefit Plan. Within 90 days of receiving the 20-year letter you elect, on DD Form 2656-5: Option A, no coverage until you elect at the eligibility age; Option B, an annuity that starts on the later of the day after your death and your 60th birthday; or Option C, an annuity that starts the day after your death. With a spouse or dependent child, no election in time means Option C.

10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(2); DoD FMR Vol 7B, Ch 54; DD Form 2656-5

Record Review

The record review application in the Air Force's virtual Military Personnel Flight (vMPF). You review your data there, correct the items it lets you correct, and take the printed record review to your commander's support staff for the rest.

DAFI 36-2608, Attachment 4

Reduced retirement age

An eligibility age below 60: three months earlier for each 90 days of qualifying duty after January 28, 2008, counted in a fiscal year or, after September 30, 2014, in two consecutive fiscal years, never below 50.

10 U.S.C. 12731(f)(2) · Reduced retirement age guide

Retired pay base

The amount the multiplier applies to: the High-3 for members who first became members on or after September 8, 1980, and final basic pay for those who joined earlier.

10 U.S.C. 1406, 1407 · Retired pay guide

Retired Reserve

The reserve category you can transfer to when you stop drilling. Transferring, rather than taking a discharge, keeps your High-3 priced on the pay tables in effect when retired pay begins; after a discharge, the rates in effect at discharge apply.

DoD FMR Vol 7B, Ch 1, ¶2.2.2; Ch 3, ¶2.5.1.3 · Retired pay guide

Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP)

An annuity paid to a retiree's survivor, funded by a reduction in the retiree's retired pay.

10 U.S.C. 1448, 1452

TRICARE Retired Reserve

Health coverage that members of the Retired Reserve who are qualified for retired pay but under 60 can buy, at a premium set at the full cost of coverage, unless they're enrolled in or eligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. It ends when TRICARE coverage at 60 begins.

10 U.S.C. 1076e(a), (b), (d) · Reduced retirement age guide

Yearly cap

The most drill, membership and similar points that count toward retired pay in one year: 130 for any year that includes October 30, 2007 or comes after it, and 60, 75 or 90 in earlier years. The 50-point test isn't capped.

10 U.S.C. 12733(3), 12732(a)(2) · Points guide

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