Making your new year a good year

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Donna Jeffries
  • 514th Air Mobility Wing public affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  There are good years and there are bad years, but when it comes to your Air Force Reserve retirement, the former is what you should be thinking about.

To complete what's called a "good year", a reservist must earn a minimum of 50 points towards his or her satisfactory year of service, said Chief Master Sgt. Danica Dejanovic, 514th Force Support Squadron superintendent.

Every reserve Airmen's individual retention-retirement year is based on the anniversary date they entered the Reserve, not on the fiscal or traditional calendar year.
For example, a reservist with a Dec. 1 retention-retirement date must accumulate 50 points by next Nov. 30 in order to have a satisfactory year of service.

Counting calendar years of service or pay dates is not the same as ensuring your point credit summary reflects the number of good years a member has accumulated toward retirement, said Dejanovic.

When planning annual tours, Dejanovic concurs that it's important that reservists take into consideration their retention-retirement date because bad planning may result in two 15-day annual tours performed in one retention-retirement year.

Consider this: a reservist with a Dec. 1 retention-retirement date completes a 15-day annual tour Dec. 15-30, 2010, and then another 15-day annual tour Nov. 1-15, 2011.
Although the December annual tour was performed in fiscal year 2011 and the November annual tour was performed in fiscal 2012, both were accomplished during the same retention-retirement year.

Those who never miss a unit training assembly and serve all 15 annual tour days within the appropriate year will accumulate 78 retention-retirement points, so achieving the 50 points needed for a good year shouldn't be much of an obstacle for most Reserve Airmen.

Failing to annually acquire a good year will result in an extended service commitment.

"Someone that does not obtain a good year will be short when it comes time to retire," Dejanovic said. "A member must have 20 good years to retire."

It's up to each individual Airmen to ensure there are no surprises when it comes time to retire.

"It's crucial that we all make a point to review our point credit summary on a regular basis," Dejanovic said.  

Airmen can check their point credit summary online on the Virtual Military Personnel Flight.