Q. I have been having trouble finding an answer to this question: I served four years on active duty (1987-1991) and was hired at the Postal Service in 1995. In 2000 I joined the Marine reserves and plan on retiring from both the reserves and the Postal Service. The post office says I can buy back those four years and apply it to my postal retirement and it not affect my reserve retirement. My question is: Can I use it for both? I have found nothing in writing that says I cannot do this and the Postal Service says I can but I am worried that if I buy those years back and when I retire from the reserves I will be told I can’t retire yet because I bought those four years and applied it to the post office retirement. It seems that the Postal Service would know the rule and is telling me the right thing but I just want to be sure.
A.The Postal Service is correct. You can make a deposit for that period of active-duty service and get credit for it in your civilian annuity without it having any affect on your reserve retirement benefit.
