Understanding National Guard and Reserve Points

"...Members of the Reserve Corps (the National Guard and Reserves) have a different pay and retirement system than Active Duty servicemembers. The Reserve retirement system is set up with the same principals as the Active Duty system, but instead of calculating the retirement based on years of service, it is calculated using Retirement Points.

Understanding how Retirement Points are earned is essential to understanding when you will be eligible for retirement, and how to calculate the value of a Reserve pension.

The purpose of this article is to give you an idea of how points are earned and how they are used to calculate your retirement...."

Read more at The Military Wallet

Early Retirement Option for Guard, Reserve Soldiers

"...More reserve-component Soldiers may now be eligible to receive retirement pay before 60, if they meet certain criteria.

As of January 2013, Congress authorized more categories to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, which originally applied only to reserve-component Soldiers serving in overseas contingency operations like Iraq and Afghanistan, said Sheila Dorsey, chief, Reserve Component Retirements.

The way it works is that Soldiers can count 90 days of their tour toward 90 days earlier retirement for each fiscal year deployed, according to Richard Gray, supervisor of Retired Pay.

That part is still in effect.   The new categories include reserve-component..."

Read more at Military.com

National Guard Retirement

"...If you are a member of the Active Reserves or or National Guard member, you must meet the following minimum requirements to be eligible for retired pay at age 60 (age 50 in some cases)..."

Read more at usmilitary.about.com