Military Careers, Retirement

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Retirement

Those who serve at least 20 years in the military are eligible for an array of retirement benefits. Those benefits and requirements vary between the active and reserve components, each with its own complex. Find out more here about the basic retirement plans and their requirements, along with other benefits available to retirees.

Bush declares Veterans Awareness Week
Veterans Day, 2007
Death Benefits
The Defense Department is responsible for providing military honors. However, the Department of Veterans Affairs, active-duty military and many veterans’ groups pool their resources to provide...
Life Insurance
VA life insurance. The Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (SGLI) Disability Extension allows service members who are totally disabled at the time of discharge to retain their SGLI coverage at no...
Loans
VA guarantees loans made by private lenders to buy a home, manufactured home, manufactured home and lot, certain types of condominiums, or to build, repair and improve a home.
Medical and Dental Care
After age 60, when retired reservists start collecting their pensions, they are eligible for military health and dental care on a space-available basis.
Retirement Homes
Numerous retirement and long-term care facilities are available to veterans. These include 134 VA nursing homes and 2,500 contracts with community nursing homes. In addition, 47 states operate a...
Social Security
Reservists contribute to Social Security from their military and civilian pay. As a rule, they can receive Social Security coverage for retirement, survivors’ income, disability income,...
Space-Available Travel
Retirees and their families can get seats on government aircraft under the “space-available” program. The program has restrictions on who can travel and where.
Survivor benefits
Reservists who receive notification they have reached the 20-year mark (or 15-year mark if offered early retirement)must decide whether to enroll in the Reserve Component Survivor Benefit Plan. This...
Uniforms and Insignia
More than anything else, common sense and dignity govern when and where a military retiree can wear a uniform.
U.S. Flag for Retirement
Reserve members are authorized to receive an American flag if they are retiring or were discharged after Oct. 5, 1999, and meet the qualifications to receive pay at age 60. This service is provided...
Base Access
Retired reservists retain their ranks as members of the reserve component, and will be issued retired reserve ID cards. They are eligible for unlimited use of military commissaries and exchanges and...
20-Year Retirement
Twenty years on active duty — or equivalent time spent in what is known as “qualifying service” as a reservist — is the basic eligibility requirement for military retirement....
Retirement COLA
The annual cost-of-living adjustment for military retired pay is based on changes in the Consumer Price Index, a government measure of the cost of goods and services.
Contacts
For more information or to request a retirement application form, contact:
Disability retirement
The Defense Department offers two types of disability retirement:
Help for spouses
Military spouses are eligible for, and encouraged to take advantage of, many transition services available to their active-duty military partners.
Points
Every reservist earns points toward retirement. The final amount of points accrued during a career will have a great impact on your retirement pay. All points earned while on active duty, up to 365...
Disability Benefits
You do not have to be retired from the military to receive disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. There are two types of compensation, VA disability and VA pension.
Combat Related Special Compensation
Under the separate CRSC program, retirees with any VA-rated disabilities, regardless of the percentage, that are the result of combat or combat-related training are eligible for a monthly payment...
Concurrent receipt
A 19th-century law required disabled military retirees to forfeit $1 of retired pay for every dollar received in VA disability compensation. In recent years, Congress has enacted two separate but...
Retirement: Allotments
Military retirees have several options for automatic paycheck deductions. They can establish discretionary allotments to pay insurance premiums, mortgages, rent or loans; support relatives;...
Retirement Cost-Of-Living Adjustments
Retired pay rises each year to ensure inflation does not erode retirees’ purchasing power. These cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, are based on changes in the Labor Department’s...
Death Benefits
While the Department of Veterans Affairs does not provide military funeral honors, the Defense Department does. However, the VA, the active-duty military and many veterans’ groups pool their...
Retirement: Education
The Montgomery GI Bill has two components for active-duty and Selected Reserve service members.
Retirees & Garnishment
A civilian court can garnish the income of retirees if they fall behind in alimony or child support. Garnishment begins with a court order sent to a military finance center.
Retiree Health Care
All retirees and their dependents retain eligibility to be treated in military hospitals and clinics when they turn 65. But care is provided on a space-available basis, and getting an appointment is...
Retirement: Life Insurance
Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance coverage is available in $50,000 increments up to a maximum of $400,000.
Retiree Loans
Retirees and other eligible veterans of regular military service, including reservists, can apply for a VA-guaranteed loan to buy or build a house.
Retirees: Medals and Decorations
Retirees who have lost medals or decorations, or never received ones they earned, may request them at any time. The government will replace, at no cost to the veteran, lost or destroyed decorations...
Retirees: Moving and Storage
Service members who retire from the military can move anywhere in the continental U.S. at government expense; they do not have to be going to their official home of record.
Retirement Homes
A number of retirement and long-term treatment facilities are available to veterans. Most veterans’ retirement homes are free to residents, although some do ask for payments.
Social Security
As a rule, service members can receive Social Security coverage for retirement, survivors’ income, disability income, Medicare and burial expenses. Retirees can receive military and Social...
Retirees & Space-Available Travel
Retirees and their families can get seats aboard government aircraft under the military’s space-available program, which offers empty seats to certain members of the military community.
Survivor Benefits
To enable retirees to provide for their families after their deaths, the government offers an annuity program, the Survivor Benefit Plan, available to all active-duty and reserve retirees. For a...
Retirement & Taxes
Most retirement pay is subject to federal income taxes. So are SBP benefits. Retirees who entered the military before Sept. 24, 1975, and members receiving disability retirements based on combat...
Transition Assistance
Most major installations offer a variety of services to retiring service members. Job-hunting seminars, one-on-one assistance with writing résumés and computerized job banks are a few of the...
Retireees: Uniforms and Insignia
Military retirees and veterans can wear uniforms and medals long after separation.
Vocational Rehabilitation
The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program assists veterans with service-related disabilities to achieve independence in daily living and, when possible, obtain and maintain suitable...