Q. I retired from the Marine Corps (active duty military) in 2004 after 22 years of honorable and faithful service. I have been with the civilian federal government side for six years now as a FERS employee. I am 49 years old with a total of 28 years of government service. When and at what age would I be eligible for retirement? A. Unless you make a deposit for those 22 years of active-duty service and waive your military retired pay, you won’t get any credit for that time. As it stands, you have only six years of creditable service…
Browsing: military service
Q. Question: As a military retiree, if I buy back my military time, will my military retirement pay stop or will it then continue until I completely retire from federal service? Details: I served on active duty from 1982-2002, and retired with an honorable discharge. I began receiving my military retirement pay. I then entered federal service as a GS-14, and I am under FERS. I do not have a disability. I have been told that if I buy back my military time, my retirement pay will immediately stop. My research shows that the military retiree pay would continue until…
Q. I work for the USPS. Last night a co-worker and I talked. We both are in FERS and have active military time and guard or reserve time to retire from there. If our active military time is used for USPS retirement, does that effect our military retirement? A. As FERS employees, you will only get credit for your active-duty military service if you make a deposit to the civilian retirement fund for that time. (Reserve duty time isn’t generally creditable, so no deposit is required.) If you do make a deposit, you’ll get credit for that time in determining…
Q. I was hired into civil service (FERS) in January 2005, and elected at that time to purchase back 10 years of active-duty military service. I’m still in the Active Reserve with 17 years of service (about 13 active), and was wondering: 1. When I decide to retire from the military, will my military retirement be at all affected by my election to buy it back in civil service? 2. If so, how? I think my military pension will be better at retirement than that of my civil service pension, because I expect my military paygrade to be higher, and…
Q. I have served in the Marine Corps for 17 years, 10 active and seven reserve currently, but plan on serving 20 years total before I end my military service. I am transitioning into the State Department as a Foreign Service officer and had several questions concerning my retirement. 1. I plan on buying the credit for my military service. While active duty is straightforward to calculate, how do they credit my reserve time? Is it only active-duty days served while in a reserve billet? 2. Assuming they credit my 10 active years and some portion of my reserve time,…
Q. I was just hired as a GS-0081 with the Department of Veterans Affairs after retiring from 20 years in the Air Force. I was hired at age 38 thanks to the recent ruling by OPM to repeal the maximum entry age. My concern is whether I will be able to complete my 20 years for the FERS retirement from the GS-0081. As it looks now, I will come up just a few months short. Are there going to be any changes to the maximum retirement age? This doesn’t seem fair if I’m still able to do the job and…
Q. I worked as a postal clerk from February 1970 to June 1975. I came back and have been a letter carrier since July 1985. I served in the military from February 1966 to December 1968. What’s the story on “buying back the time?” I’m still an active carrier and would like to know the effect on my FERS retirement and on my Social Security. A. To get credit for that period of active-duty service, you’d need to make a deposit to the civilian retirement system. The amount would be a small percentage of your military base pay plus accrued…
Q. On March 16th you answered a question with information concerning OPM checking only once to see if you were eligible for Social Security. Would you please expound upon that statement and tell us how that would affect a CSRS employee? I am just a few quarters shy of having 40 quarters and wondering if it means I would be better off waiting until I am 62 before completing the 40 since I will retire from CSRS before I am 62. A. I think you are referring to what’s popularly referred to as “Catch-62.” If a CSRS retiree served on…
Q. I am a DoD firefighter for the Department of the Army for three years now. Before my current employment I was an Air Force military firefighter for eight years. I am in the process of buying back my military time and I entered the federal system at the age of 30. What age can I retire? I have been told that the eight years can be added to the “front end” of my retirement, which would mean I could retire at the age of 47 (25 years any age). Now the other scenario is age 50 and 20 years…
Q. I am a FERS employee with seven years of service. I was told at our retirement seminar that we could not draw more than two federal pensions. I will retire from the Air Force reserve in three years, and in another 10 years can retire from my GS position. We were told that if we elect to get the military retirement and the civil service retirement, we could not get Social Security. Is this correct? A. No. You will be able to receive your reserve retired pay, your FERS annuity, and a Social Security benefit based on all your…