Q: I receive military retirement pay under FERS for 21 years of service in the Air Force. I started working a job as a federal civilian employee two years ago. I did not buy back my military time. If I continue to work as a federal civilian for another seven years (bringing my total federal
service to 30 years), how will my retirement pay be affected? Will my monthly retirement pay increase?
A: If you don’t make a deposit for your active-duty service and, at retirement, waive your military retired pay, you won’t get any credit for it in determining your years of civilian service or in your annuity computation. Assuming that you continue to work until you have 10 years of civilian service and have reached your minimum retirement age, you could retire under the MRA+10 provision. However, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you were under age 62 unless you retired and postponed the receipt of your annuity to a later date.
