How Is The Air Force Retirement Plan? 
The US Air Force is a part of the Department of Defense . Their pension is actually a form of deferred compensation . Participants do not become vested after a few years like civilian plans . Rather , they become eligible for benefits after completing twenty years of service . At that time , not at age 65 , they can receive half of their base pay for the balance of their lives . They also retain many benefits they enjoyed on active duty . Between an airmans twentieth to thirtieth year of service the benefit increases until at thirty years of service it is seventy-five per cent of their base pay . 