Understanding a Navy Reserve retirement can seem like a daunting task. But with a proper explanation of terminology and how qualifying service is calculated, the process can be pretty straightforward. The intent of this article and accompanying video is to be a guide for all Navy Reserve Sailors in understanding how time in service culminates into a Reserve retirement and to pay attention to key retirement milestones along a Reserve career.

Generally, a Reservist is eligible for Non-Regular Retirement once they have 20 Qualifying Years of service. Also known as a Good Year, a member accrues a Qualifying Year after they have earned a minimum of 50 retirement points in their own Anniversary Year. This is the Sailor’s individual Reserve year, which typically begins on the anniversary of their first day in the Reserve or date commissioned and ends the day prior to the anniversary. This date can change throughout a career depending on breaks in service or other factors. Knowing your Anniversary Year can help you maximize your future retirement value. The 50 retirement points (or more) accrued over each year are from two sources:

• You receive one point for each drill period performed (e.g., Inactive Duty for Training (IDT)); one point for each day of active service (e.g., Annual Training (AT), mobilization); and one for each day of funeral honors. You may also earn points from approved correspondence courses.
• For each year you are affiliated with the Navy Reserve you will automatically receive 15 points for Reserve service — or as pro-rated for partial years.

The annual maximum number of total points is equal to the number of days in the anniversary year (365 or 366), while the maximum number of Inactive Points is capped at 130.

It is possible to earn a Good Year while simultaneously having unsatisfactory participation. In other words, the Sailor may have over 50 retirement points in an Anniversary Year, qualifying the member for a Good Year, but have unsatisfactory participation from not completing an AT (and not having an approved AT waiver), or having more than nine unexcused drill period absences. Unsatisfactory participation does not cancel out a Good Year, but could lead to an early separation from the Navy Reserve.

As your years of service close out along the path toward retirement, you should be keeping an eye on your point record. Your annual record of accrued Retirement Points, also known as your Unofficial Statement of Service, is available to you with a CAC login to the Navy Standard Integrated Personnel System (NSIPS) via Employee Self-Service in the Retirements and Separations module. This is the source platform for what you may know as the Annual Statement of Service History (ASOSH), found on BUPERS Online (BOL). If you do not have a CAC, you may request a copy by contacting the My Navy Career Center (MNCC).

Here are a few terms you will need to be familiar with as you decipher your point record:

Total Years of Qualifying Service (TYQS) - Number of years completed with the minimum number of points to qualify as a satisfactory year toward retirement.
Pay Entry Base Date (PEBD) - Date that denotes how much of your service is creditable towards longevity for pay purposes. It can be found in field four of your last active duty Leave and Earnings Statement (LES). Length of Service (LOS) - Total number of years, months and days a member has been under contract. LOS is used to calculate PEBD and is also the measure of when a Reserve Component Sailor reaches High Year Tenure (HYT).
Years of Commissioned Service - Total number of years an officer has been commissioned, which is subject to Statutory Limits.

Take time to assess your goals and ensure your career path is taking you where you hope to be when you reach retirement eligibility and beyond. Strategically plan your time in regard to active and inactive points, anniversary and fiscal years.

If you anticipate reaching HYT (Enlisted) or Statutory Limits (Officer) at 20 years of service, you should be especially mindful of your Qualifying Years compared to Years of Service. You should start talking with your career counselor now about the best time to submit your retirement request.

Frequent review of your Statement of Service is critical. A discrepancy in your point record can be a meaningful difference in Qualifying Years and/or the dollar value of your future retirement. The earlier discrepancies can be identified and corrected, the better. Looking ahead, some discrepancies can still be corrected while in the Gray Area, but this can be problematic for members who are no longer focused on drilling, have competing priorities in their daily retired life, and no longer have CAC-enabled access to systems like NSIPS and BOL or support from a NOSC or Program Office to readily verify that the point record updates were made. Get your corrections taken care of now.

While still a member of the Reserve Component, you can take your supporting documentation to your NOSC or Program Office for assistance in correcting any discrepancies. If unable to correct an issue, contact the My Navy Career Center to create a service request in order to begin the discrepancy resolution process. Again, you will need to be able to provide supporting documentation to MNCC.

MNCC can be reached by phone at 1-833-330-MNCC or by email at askmncc@navy.mil. 

This article is part of a larger Reserve Retirement article first published in The Navy Reservist Almanac. Read the entire article here: https://www.navyreserve.navy.mil/News/Article-View-News/Article/2226271/reserve-retirement/