what is the minimum amount of years before retiring from the military?

Question

I was thinking of going enlisted for the United States Marine Corps, what is the minimum amount of years I have to serve before i can be discharged or retire from the military and seek another career?

my brother is going to the Naval Academy and he's serving 20, but he'll be an officer. so i'm not sure.

Answer 1

Generally, 20.

Answer 2

Military retirement issues are set by Federal Law. Currently 20 years is the minimum number of years you must serve to retire from any of the Uniformed Services.

My understanding is Marine Corp enlisted people must serve four years before being discharged from Active Service. In some cases Officers and People who get specialized training may be required to put in 6 years.

Answer 3

Discharged-8. Retire-20. The 8 is after your 4 years active duty and 4 inactive reserve. If you stay in the whole 20 then think of how young you will still be to start a new career and still get all the medical benefits and so on.

Answer 4

if you are young enough, then you are making a wise choice. If you are active component, and you serve for twenty years or more, you start getting a pension and retirement benefits right away. If you are reserve/national guard, and serve a total of 20 or more years, with or without active duty time, you will get a pension and full retirement benefits at the age of 60. Call a recruiter in any branch of the military. they will have charts and manuals that will be clear as mud explaining how it works.

Answer 5

For either an active duty or Reserve retirement, you must serve 20 years to get one based upon time in service. If active duty, you start collecting retirement pay immediately. If Reserve, you must wait until you turn 60 to start collecting.
The percentage amount is 40%. (It was cut from 50% around 1992).

If an officer and your commission is a "Reserve" commission and you are on extended active duty, you MUST retire at the 20 year mark. If you have a "REGULAR" commission and you are on active duty, you can ask to retire at 20 years but they can turn you down. I think the longest someone was held on active duty was 63 years. (Admiral Rickover.)

From 1992 to 2000 they had "Temporary Early Retirement Authority" (TERA) where people could retire from active duty with a reduced amount of pay after 15 years of service. That was part of the draw down after the Gulf War.

There is also Chapter 61 retirements. If you are injuried or become sick while on active duty and your disability from that injury or sickness is rated at 30% or more, they can medically retire you. You get paid based upon the percentage of disability.

Answer 6

20 years required to qualify for retirement. There are some 'things' that can cut that a little, but that is very rare. Be aware that 20 years is a short career term! AND very very very few (3%?) of our Officers have a 'REGULAR COMMISSION' that pretty much grants them 20 years in service. The mass of Officers have 'Reserve Commissions' that require an active duty period of service and a reserve period. The term of active duty is at the sole discretion of the Service, even though it is normally 4 years.

Answer 7

20 years.

If you think about it, that's really not very long. Imagine going into the military at 18 and retiring, starting a new career, at 38.

That's still pretty young. It's worth it.

Answer 8

4 years last I heard. 20 to actually "retire". I heard years ago you could sign up for 2 years active duty, but while I was in, you couldn't do that, and I doubt they do that now either.

Answer 9

twenty mandatory i believe is 30 that is of course for enlisted only it also varies with rank lets say you have been in 10 years you get forced outif you are only still a SPC but thats the army not sure about the USMC

Answer 10

20 years to my knowledge.