View all text of Chapter 1223 [§ 12731 - § 12741]
§ 12732. Entitlement to retired pay: computation of years of service
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), for the purpose of determining whether a person is entitled to retired pay under section 12731 of this title, the person’s years of service are computed by adding the following:
(1) The person’s years of service, before July 1, 1949, in the following:
(A) The armed forces.
(B) The federally recognized National Guard before June 15, 1933.
(C) A federally recognized status in the National Guard before June 15, 1933.
(D) The National Guard after June 14, 1933, if his service therein was continuous from the date of his enlistment in the National Guard, or his Federal recognition as an officer therein, to the date of his enlistment or appointment, as the case may be, in the National Guard of the United States, the Army National Guard of the United States, or the Air National Guard of the United States.
(E) The Navy Reserve Force.
(F) The Naval Militia that conformed to the standards prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy.
(G) The National Naval Volunteers.
(H) The Army Nurse Corps, the Navy Nurse Corps, the Nurse Corps Reserve of the Army, or the Nurse Corps Reserve of the Navy, as it existed at any time after February 2, 1901.
(I) The Army under an appointment under the Act of December 22, 1942 (ch. 805, 56 Stat. 1072).
(J) An active full-time status, except as a student or apprentice, with the Medical Department of the Army as a civilian employee—
(i) in the dietetic or physical therapy categories, if the service was performed after April 6, 1917, and before April 1, 1943; or
(ii) in the occupational therapy category, if the service was performed before appointment in the Army Nurse Corps or the Women’s Medical Specialist Corps and before January 1, 1949, or before appointment in the Air Force before January 1, 1949, with a view to designation as an Air Force nurse or medical specialist.
(2) Each one-year period, after July 1, 1949, in which the person has been credited with at least 50 points on the following basis:
(A) One point for each day of—
(i) active service; or
(ii) full-time service under sections 316, 502, 503, 504, and 505 of title 32 while performing annual training duty or while attending a prescribed course of instruction at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary concerned;
if that service conformed to required standards and qualifications.
(B) One point for each attendance at a drill or period of equivalent instruction that was prescribed for that year by the Secretary concerned and conformed to the requirements prescribed by law, including attendance under section 502 of title 32.
(C) Points at the rate of 15 a year for membership—
(i) in a reserve component of an armed force,
(ii) in the Army or the Air Force without component, or
(iii) in any other category covered by subsection (a)(1) except a regular component.
(D) Points credited for the year under section 2126(b) of this title.
(E) One point for each day on which funeral honors duty is performed for at least two hours under section 12503 of this title or section 115 of title 32, unless the duty is performed while in a status for which credit is provided under another subparagraph of this paragraph.
(F)
(i) Subject to regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to matters concerning the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Department of the Navy, one point for each day of active service or one point for each drill or period of equivalent instruction that was prescribed by the Secretary concerned to be performed during the covered emergency period, if such person was prevented from performing such duty due to travel or duty restrictions imposed by the President, the Secretary of Defense, or the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard.
(ii) A person may not be credited more than 35 points in a one-year period under this subparagraph.
(iii) In this subparagraph, the term “covered emergency period” means the period beginning on March 1, 2020
(G) Points at the rate of 12 per period during which the member is on maternity leave.
For the purpose of clauses (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), and (G), service in the National Guard shall be treated as if it were service in a reserve component, if the person concerned was later appointed in the National Guard of the United States, the Army National Guard of the United States, the Air National Guard of the United States, or as a Reserve of the Army or the Air Force, and served continuously in the National Guard from the date of his Federal recognition to the date of that appointment.
(3) The person’s years of active service in the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service.
(4) The person’s years of active commissioned service in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (including active commissioned service in the Environmental Science Services Administration and in the Coast and Geodetic Survey).
(b) The following service may not be counted under subsection (a):
(1) Service (other than active service) in an inactive section of the Organized Reserve Corps or of the Army Reserve, or in an inactive section of the officers’ section of the Air Force Reserve.
(2) Service (other than active service) after June 30, 1949, while on the Honorary Retired List of the Navy Reserve or of the Marine Corps Reserve.
(3) Service in the inactive National Guard.
(4) Service in a non-federally recognized status in the National Guard.
(5) Service in the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve.
(6) Service as an inactive Reserve nurse of the Army Nurse Corps established by the Act of February 2, 1901 (ch. 192, 31 Stat. 753), as amended, and service before July 1, 1938, as an inactive Reserve nurse of the Navy Nurse Corps established by the Act of May 13, 1908 (ch. 166, 35 Stat. 146).
(7) Service in any status other than that as commissioned officer, warrant officer, nurse, flight officer, aviation midshipman, appointed aviation cadet, or enlisted member, and that described in clauses (I) and (J) of subsection (a)(1).
(8) Service in the screening performed pursuant to section 10149 of this title through electronic means, regardless of whether or not a stipend is paid the member concerned for such service under section 433a of title 37.
(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 102, § 1332; Pub. L. 85–861, § 33(a)(9), Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1565; Pub. L. 86–197, § 1(1)–(3), Aug. 25, 1959, 73 Stat. 425; Pub. L. 88–636, § 1, Oct. 8, 1964, 78 Stat. 1034; Pub. L. 93–545, § 1, Dec. 26, 1974, 88 Stat. 1741; Pub. L. 96–513, title V, § 511(48), Dec. 12, 1980, 94 Stat. 2924; renumbered § 12732 and amended Pub. L. 103–337, div. A, title XVI, § 1662(j)(1), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 2998, 3000; Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title V, § 543(b)(1), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2522; Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title V, § 578(h)(1), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 628; Pub. L. 109–163, div. A, title V, § 515(b)(1)(MM), Jan. 6, 2006, 119 Stat. 3234; Pub. L. 110–181, div. A, title VI, § 633(c), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 155; Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title V, § 516(a), title VI, § 602(b)(4), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3589, 3671; Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title VI, § 601(c), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 289.)