Med Retirement Pay for Reservist

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buckstr

PEB Forum Regular Member
PEB Forum Veteran
I spoke to the JAG this afternoon and he informed me that when reservists get medically retired they still have to wait until they turn 60 before they can collect their pay. Until then all they can get is the VA compensation. This doesn't sound right to me. Its my understanding that when a reservists gets medically retired you start drawing your retired pay once the paperwork is finalized. I tried to call my Pay office to inquire about this but they were closed. Anyone have any input on this?
 
No, this is wrong. Don't know what to tell you other than reservist and active duty all collect at the same time, i.e., when the Service Secretary approves the outcome and orders are cut.
 
That was my understanding as well. He acted put off when i disagreed with him. I am currently waiting to hear from the VA for my C&P exams.
 
That's a shame. Makes one worried that he is supposed to be the counseling people on the law and he is giving bad info to countless others. Troublesome.

I hope all goes well for you. Good luck!
 
I got the feeling that I was being goated to make a decision early on as to what direction I should take.
 
buckstr said:
That was my understanding as well. He acted put off when i disagreed with him. I am currently waiting to hear from the VA for my C&P exams.
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buckstr said:
I spoke to the JAG this afternoon and he informed me that when reservists get medically retired they still have to wait until they turn 60 before they can collect their pay. Until then all they can get is the VA compensation.
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This is the problem with the reserve component, many of the so subject matter experts are not well informed. In the end the uninformed reservist loses.
if you are on the PDRL and rated 30% or over from the PEB you collect that percent of your high 36 months of your base pay up to 75%.
 
Im a Reservists with 15 yrs in the Reserve and including deployments it equals out to 6 yrs AD. Im being placed on TDRL since one of my ratings is 50% TDRL. So I want get any retirement until I am placed on PDRL? And the "collect that percent of your high 36 months of your base pay" will noy apply??
 
PSYOP Warrior said:
Im a Reservists with 15 yrs in the Reserve and including deployments it equals out to 6 yrs AD. Im being placed on TDRL since one of my ratings is 50% TDRL. So I want get any retirement until I am placed on PDRL? And the "collect that percent of your high 36 months of your base pay" will noy apply??
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No...this is not a "sharp" comment directed at you, just a point of emphasis for all reservists reading- it has been posted countless times- you will get your retirement pay immediately! You are treated no different than a member on active duty for timing of receipt of pay.

Reservists collect at the same time as active duty- upon receipt of orders and retirement.
 
so since I will be an E-6 for last 36 months, I get E-6 pay for 6yrs AD or for the full 15 years I have been in the reserves? Case in pt - On the Army pay chart, do I go to the 6yr or 15yr on the chart to get paid?? Thanks for the reply
 
PSYOP Warrior said:
so since I will be an E-6 for last 36 months, I get E-6 pay for 6yrs AD or for the full 15 years I have been in the reserves? Case in pt - On the Army pay chart, do I go to the 6yr or 15yr on the chart to get paid?? Thanks for the reply
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Your question looks at the issue incorrectly- a full analysis and explanation would take more time than I have now, but the short answer is that your retired base pay will be based off of an E-6 with 15 yrs (for however long you have been above 14 yrs- the step on the pay chart that increases pay in two year increments) and then will go back in time over the past 36 months of pay on the chart to come up with the average of your high-3 pay.

There are exceptions and rules for weird situations (loss of pay due to UCMJ, reduction in rank, previously held higher rank resulting in higher pay, etc.). The DoD Financial Management Regulation spells out the calculations, including for reservists and other situations, if you want to dig into the details.
 
The NDAA of I believe 2008 changed things to where you will be retired with at the E-6 / 15 year rate. It was done to correct a system where injured reservists were really getting shafted by using the equivalent years of active duty. The example I saw was where two E-6's, both with 15 years in had the exact same injury in the exact same way (say an IED for example). Before the correction was made, the reservist would get less than half what the active duty Soldier would receive for the exact same injury at the exact same time. The correction took care of that problem. Again, 15 years. I had the same question.
 
Roger, sorry I didn't take into account the two year increments. So 14 unless you reach the next two year mark before you are done. Just amateur knowledge compared to Mr. Perry.
 
TJkick said:
Roger, sorry I didn't take into account the two year increments. So 14 unless you reach the next two year mark before you are done. Just amateur knowledge compared to Mr. Perry.
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No worries, your efforts in replying are appreciated and are what we are about- helping others.
 
I really appreciate the answers the last 5 people took in responding. The best I have seen that explains it for Reserves. I will hit my 16 year mark in April 2013 so looks like I might be sitting better than 14 yrs. Plus my packet was just sent for ratings to Ft Lewis in DEC and I have appealed my NARSUM 3X before it was sent out and still plan on not signing it until they get it strait. So I'm pretty confident I will hit the 16 year mark with the all this I have going. Since I have time in grade/rank, wish I could make E-7 but than again they take your last highest 36 months of pay so it wouldn't matter. Thanks guys again.
 
We are all going through this together (or have already).
 
I'm confused so I hope someone out there can help me. Background - I have 35 years total service; 8 AD and 27 TPU reserves. I am rated 80% through the VA and I am about to go through the MEB/PEB. Here's my confusion - I just got off the phone with a VA rep who told me that reservists can not collect disability retirement until age 60 unless they are in a WTU when they are boarded and discharged. He said he has never heard of any drilling reservist who was medically discharged and started collecting before age 60 unless they were boarded by Active Duty which he said would not happen for a reservist unless he was on AD orders. He said if anyone is telling me otherwise, then I should get it in writing because they are blowing smoke up my butt. I then contacted the RSC Command Surgeon's office who told me this was not true, that a reservist can collect disability retirement before reaching age 60. When I told him about the conversation I had with the VA, he started sounding unsure of himself. Can anyone cite the regulation or at least talk me off this ledge? Thanks.
 
Kissem - Read all of the posts above. It cannot get any clearer.
Mr. Perry is right on the money and the person you talked to at the VA is wrong.
 
I am AR with 23 years. My board just finished. I was med retired at 30% and am 42 years old. My MEB was started, and finished during TPU time. I will start drawing my retirement pay once the Secretary of the Army approves the PEB findings.

If you are medically retired, you draw pension right away.
 
buckstr said:
I spoke to the JAG this afternoon and he informed me that when reservists get medically retired they still have to wait until they turn 60 before they can collect their pay. Until then all they can get is the VA compensation. This doesn't sound right to me. Its my understanding that when a reservists gets medically retired you start drawing your retired pay once the paperwork is finalized. I tried to call my Pay office to inquire about this but they were closed. Anyone have any input on this?
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There are quite a few scenarios that can take place, I'll go over a couple.

1.) Reservist, 20Y letter, medically retired 40% DoD, 100% DoVA. Injury not occurred in a combat zone or as an instrument of war.

Medical retirement is 40% of the retired base pay (we will use $3000 as the retired base pay) the reservist would be eligible for $1200 per month). DoVA C&P would be $2854.24 per month (single soldier no dependents). VA C&P is greater than the DoVA medical retirement, so the service member would collect the DoVA C&P and not the medical retirement. Once the service member reaches their EARNED retirement age (typically 60) then the can collect both C&P and their earned retirement based upon how many active duty points they have. This would be called concurrent receipt of disability and retirement pay (CRDP)


2.) Exact same scenario, however the injury was incurred as a instrument of war. The service member would then be eligible for combat rated special compensation and would be eligible to collect both the C&P from the VA, plus the medical retirement from the DoD. This is called combat related special compensation (CRSC)

Here is a some guidance from DFAS http://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/disability/payment.html

If you are comfortable sharing some of the details regarding your particular situation, I can advise you of every bit of pay, allowance and entitlement that you should be receiving.
 
Recall that instrumentality of war is only one of the possible reasons a condition may be combat-related (and thus qualifies the member for CRSC). You have "as a result of combat, combat related training, instrumentality of war, or during performance of extrahazardous duty".
 
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