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Time for another military question - medical retirement


Alpo

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My father was in the Navy for a shade over 21 years. Then he retired.

 

As I understood it, then he was no longer a Senior Chief aviation machinist mate. He was a civilian.

 

But that was just a "he done his time and got out" retirement.

 

There is this online story. An army captain in the 82nd airborne trashes his leg on a jump, and is medically retired.

 

Many times, in the continuation of the story, he says something similar to this (this is a quote):

 

>I am still a commissioned Army officer on medical retirement and have not been relieved of my commission through either resignation or court martial.<

 

At the time he makes that statement he had been "medically retired" for thirty years.

 

My question is, since he was "medically retired", is he still considered an army officer?

 

Somewhere I read that generals stay generals. Even if no longer on active duty they are still generals. But this guy was a captain.

 

Is the author confused, or am I?

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A military retiree -- whether medical, 20 + years, or otherwise -- retains their rank for life.  They become a member of the "retired reserve," meaning they collect their retirement pension AND are subject to recall to active duty until the day they die.  Medical retirees will never see that, but the 20+ guys do occasionally.  I ran into a few working at the pentagon when I was there, and more than one got called back for combat operations.  

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Now I have a question. I served in the US Navy Reserve 1967 - 1973. I completed 2 years of active duty in the regular Navy and 4 years of Reserve Duty including 4 - 2 week cruises and 2 week boot camp in Great Lakes. I did not serve beyond the initial 6 year commitment. I always figured I was done after I received my DD-214. I am 75 so I figure I am not prime active service bate now. The question: Was I subject to recall all those years? Not a big deal, never heard from the Navy or Reserves. Just curious at this point.

 

CJ

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38 minutes ago, Cactus Jack Calder said:

Now I have a question. I served in the US Navy Reserve 1967 - 1973. I completed 2 years of active duty in the regular Navy and 4 years of Reserve Duty including 4 - 2 week cruises and 2 week boot camp in Great Lakes. I did not serve beyond the initial 6 year commitment. I always figured I was done after I received my DD-214. I am 75 so I figure I am not prime active service bate now. The question: Was I subject to recall all those years? Not a big deal, never heard from the Navy or Reserves. Just curious at this point.

 

CJ

 

Nope.  What I said was applicable to retirees.  You were done when you walked out, unless your contract had some time in the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) tacked on to the end, but it wouldn't have been more than 2 years.

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Cyrus,

Thanks for the information. I had known that Commissioned Officers we’re officers for life. I was not aware that enlisted retirees were subject to call up. My eldest son is a 21 year retiree from the US Air Force. I’m sure he is aware of his obligation as he is very organized.

 

CJ

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When I enlisted in the early 80s your total contractual commitment was 6 years. It could be a mix of Active, Reserve, and Inactive reserve but added up it had to equal 6 years. By the time I retired the total time had increased to 8 years. Lots of junior enlisted that were on IRR got called up for duty in the sand box. The Army called it Stop-Loss. Lots of people that were recalled were rather unhappy because they failed to understand their initial enlistment contract. The hollyweird lefties even made a movie about it.

 

When I had my 20 years of active duty in the Navy I really didn't retire, I transferred to the Fleet Reserve. After I had a total of 30 years (20 years of active duty plus 10 years inactive reserve) I was officially retired from the Navy. I was sent a registered letter from BuPers informing me I was officially retired from the Navy.

 

While a member of the Fleet Reserve I was subject to recall to active duty if the President so ordered. the only people I know of that have been recalled back to active duty were all part of the medical corps and that was because of activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

To answer the OP's question I still hold the last Rate/Rank I had when I left Active Duty. 

AT1 (AW) David Hunter

USN Retired.

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