National Guard AGR and Mil Technician medical retirement

M

MattR77

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
For all you National Guard folks out there...here's one...

I'm currently going through the PEB and have held an AGR slot for the last two years. Prior to that, I was a Military Technician with my Guard unit (AZ ARNG). My question is this:

If I am medically retired from the military, obviously I can't return to my Technician job. Would I also have any retirement or disability from the GS side? I'm a helicopter pilot, so I can't hold either the AGR job or the MilTech job, so is there any retirement/disability I need to look into before this is all over and I'm out??

Any info would be greatly appreciated, and best of luck to everyone!
Thanks,
Matt
 
National Guard personnel not serving in a federalized status, such as state active duty for disaster relief under Title 32, United States Code, or Full Time National Guard Duty (FTNGD) as defined at Title 10, U.S. Code Section 101(d) (5), are not protected by the SSCRA. For instance, the SSCRA does not protect National Guard members performing FTNG, despite Title 10, U.S. Code Section 12602 stating that such service is deemed to be active duty in the Federal service as a Reserve of the Army for purposes of benefits. Why? Because the military has determined that SSCRA coverage is a not a benefit for National Guard members, but legal protection. National Guard members performing state active duty must look to state statutes that parallel the SSCRA for relief. (NOTE: In November 2002, Congress passed a law (the Veterans Benefits Act of 2002, Public Law 107-330. Section 305), which provides SSCRA protection to National Guard members called to state active duty under Title 32, if the duty is because of a federal emergency, the request for active duty is made by the President or Secretary of Defense, and the member is activated for longer than 30 days. An example of this would be the National Guard members who were activated by the states, at the request of the President, to provide security for airports after 9-11).

So if you were under Title 32 orders you wouldn't be covered under the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act.

But I imagine you terminated your employment when you took your AGR position. You had no intention to return? Wouldn't that sort of be like me quitting a civilian job to take another civilian job and, when I am disabled on the job and given Workmans' Compensation and a Social Security disability retirement, expecting my old job to do the same?
 
But I imagine you terminated your employment when you took your AGR position. You had no intention to return? Wouldn't that sort of be like me quitting a civilian job to take another civilian job and, when I am disabled on the job and given Workmans' Compensation and a Social Security disability retirement, expecting my old job to do the same?
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Not the case at all. As a military technician with the National Guard, I wore the uniform every day like a normal Active Duty Soldier. I was a GS-13 Instructor Pilot in Arizona, flying Apaches. The position I had was an "excepted position", which means if I came on orders for any reason, I kept my job. It was officially Leave Without Pay for the entirety of the orders that I was on. I went on Title 32 AGR orders for the same job, then got grounded a year later. The medical board has been in the works for the last year, and I am just trying to figure out what to do with my Technician job, which I will be ineligible for since I will not be able to remain in the military.
 
MattR77,

The best information you can get is from your state HRO. He/She will examine you issue and inform you of your options. I'm currently in a similar situation but the whole Tech employment arena can be quite confusing. If you have a lot of years like do you have to choose disability retirement or discontinued service.

Hope that I helped a little.

Tim
 
MattR77 said:
But I imagine you terminated your employment when you took your AGR position. You had no intention to return? Wouldn't that sort of be like me quitting a civilian job to take another civilian job and, when I am disabled on the job and given Workmans' Compensation and a Social Security disability retirement, expecting my old job to do the same?
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Not the case at all. As a military technician with the National Guard, I wore the uniform every day like a normal Active Duty Soldier. I was a GS-13 Instructor Pilot in Arizona, flying Apaches. The position I had was an "excepted position", which means if I came on orders for any reason, I kept my job. It was officially Leave Without Pay for the entirety of the orders that I was on. I went on Title 32 AGR orders for the same job, then got grounded a year later. The medical board has been in the works for the last year, and I am just trying to figure out what to do with my Technician job, which I will be ineligible for since I will not be able to remain in the military.
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I don't know if things have changed recently but I have known many people in the Guard who go from being a Mil Tech to to an AGR and they never quit their position in the civil sevice but they do take LWOP. I believe the LWOP can be taken for up to five years and I have seen it done before. I don't know if you did take LWOP if they would let you draw the FERS disability retirement but I don't guess it would hurt to call your state HRO and ask if the Public Law (97-253) retirement applies to you as long as you took LWOP from your old GS position before transferring over to the AGR program.
 
bobby_0081 said:
I don't know if things have changed recently but I have known many people in the Guard who go from being a Mil Tech to to an AGR and they never quit their position in the civil sevice but they do take LWOP. I believe the LWOP can be taken for up to five years and I have seen it done before. I don't know if you did take LWOP if they would let you draw the FERS disability retirement but I don't guess it would hurt to call your state HRO and ask if the Public Law (97-253) retirement applies to you as long as you took LWOP from your old GS position before transferring over to the AGR program.
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Thanks for the information! I will be contacting HRO tomorrow...hopefully they can give me some good G2 as well.
I appreciate it!
 
Hi Matt,

As a former technician you have restoration rights meaning that if you took an AGR I believe you have 5 years and you can return to a technician position at the same grade that you left. It's something to ask about to the HRO. Going through a MEB you definitely want to go back to a technician in order to try and get a public law retirement.
 
Matt,

Could you please tell us what the outcome of this was? I am looking at being in the same boat as you & would like to know what you found out - especially since I am in AZ also...
 
Red Devil said:
Matt,

Could you please tell us what the outcome of this was? I am looking at being in the same boat as you & would like to know what you found out - especially since I am in AZ also...
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Ok, here is the skinny. If you were LWOP-US from tech side while AGR and prior to that point had 18 months as a technician, you would be able to apply for a public law disability once you lose your membership in the Guard. You just wont get a lot, but you can collect until 62 where they then reevaluate your retirement and use the years you collected up until 62 to convert you over to a regular retirement. If you are going through a board and lose AGR membership, pick back up your tech job. Even after separation, you have 30 days post separation unless your unit decides to retain you longer and it is approved by G1, then you can be retained until your disability on the technician side is approved. I am in the same boat... just waiting. Do you have long term disability insurance through your technician side?
 
You must return to your civilian job as a technician for at least a day. My HRO told me that a number of times.
Good Luck and Speak with your HRO of your state.
 
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