Q. I have 15½ years of military service and five years of government service. It will cost me $8,300 to buy back my military time. I just turned 50 this month. What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying my time back? How would this affect me in a reduction in force?
A. If you make a deposit for that active-duty service, your years of civilian service will jump from five years to 20.5 years. That will put you that much closer to years of service needed to retire from you civilian job. It will also mean that your annuity would be 15.5 percent higher than if you didn’t make a deposit for that time.
