Evening star., 1950-07-04
Veterans
Guide
By Moj. Thomas M. Mol

MANY VeUGTdIlS QOu T6dllGS now
valuable their active wartime duty
is in earning Reserve retirement
pay at age so.
You need a minimum of 90
years of satisfactory Federal serv-
ice" to qualify for retirement. So
if you served five years during the
war you need to complete only
Is more years in the Reserve to
draw a monthly retirement check
at so.
Ask a serviceman in the Regu-
lars about Reserve retirement and
he's likely to say, Sure, the Re-
serves get retirement just like us
Regulars" The maximum for
both Reserves and Regulars is rs
per cent of basic pay.
Take the case of Joe and Bill.
They went into the Army in 1912
and served exactly four years. Joe
stayed on in the Regulars and
will complete 16 more years ac-
tive duty. Bill went into the Re
serves and will meet the minimum
drill and training requirements
for 16 years.
If both move up in grade to-
gether and leave the service as
master sergeants, Joe. the Regular
will start drawing $l32.30 a month
for life as soon as he retires. Bill,
the reservist, when he reaches 60|
years of age will get about $42 a
month for life.
To illustrate what this monthly
$40 means, compare it with an
annuity you buy from life in
surance company. You can pay O.
lump sum to an insurance COM
pany at almost any age and the
company will give you back an
nual or monthly payments for the
rest of your life. To get $42 o.
month for life at age so. Bill
would have to pay out more than
$500 at today's annuity rates.
Credit points are used in figur-
ing out when Bill is qualified for
retirement and how much his re-
tirement pay will be. These points
are roughly equivalent to one for
every day Of active, drill or train
ing duty.
To qualify for retirement. Bill
must earn at least so points during
each of his Is years Reserve serv-
ice. If he earns less than so any
year, that year is knocked out
when 1t comes to qualifying for
retirement and Bill will have to
put in another 50-point year to
make it up.
He gets l point for each night
of drill. When he goes on 15-day
maneuvers he gets Is points. In
the Naval Reserve, 15-day sum-
mer cruise would give him Is
points. In the Air Force, a full
Sunday Of flying gives him q
points.
He gets an automatic Is points
for each year he's q member of
the Reserve. That means he has
to pile up only IS points through
drill and training each year.
He also can earn points through
the services home study courses
and other types Of special duty.
But he cannot be credited with
more than 60 points in any year
for anything but active duty, no
matter how much drill or home
study he does.
Here's another source of points:
Those in the Reserve or National
Guard before July /, 1949, get an
automatic so points for each year
of service before that date. So
if you got a Reserve commission,
for instance, back in 1910, by July
l, 1949. you already had nine years
OF the 20 needed to qualify for
retirement. After that date you
have to earn years with points.
When Bill finishes 16 years Re-
serve service. he may 60 into the
honorary Reserve, a sort of club Of
old timers who have done 20 years
satisfactory Federal service" Or
he can stay in the active Reserve,
attend drills and pile up still more
points to increase his retirement i
pay. /
You may 1orite Maj. Nal In
care OF this newspaper In con-
nection Nth your oDn serDice-
connected problem. Imclose a
selt-addressed, stamped enve-
lope.)