Title 10Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§1372 Grade on retirement for physical disability: members of armed forces

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART II— - PERSONNEL › Chapter CHAPTER 69— - RETIRED GRADE › § 1372

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Unless they get a higher retired rank under another law, a service member retired for physical disability under section 1201 or 1204, or placed on the temporary disability retired list under section 1202 or 1205, must receive the retired rank equal to the highest of four options. Those options are: the rank held when put on the temporary list or at retirement; the highest temporary rank they served satisfactorily (as the service Secretary decides); the permanent regular or reserve rank they would have reached but for the disability found in a physical exam; or a temporary rank they would have reached but for the disability if that promotion depended on total years of service or years in grade and the disability was found in a physical exam.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §1372

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Unless entitled to a higher retired grade under some other provision of law, any member of an armed force who is retired for physical disability under section 1201 or 1204 of this title, or whose name is placed on the temporary disability retired list under section 1202 or 1205 of this title, is entitled to the grade equivalent to the highest of the following:
(1)The grade or rank in which he is serving on the date when his name is placed on the temporary disability retired list or, if his name was not carried on that list, on the date when he is retired.
(2)The highest temporary grade or rank in which he served satisfactorily, as determined by the Secretary of the armed force from which he is retired.
(3)The permanent regular or reserve grade to which he would have been promoted had it not been for the physical disability for which he is retired and which was found to exist as a result of a physical examination.
(4)The temporary grade to which he would have been promoted had it not been for the physical disability for which he is retired, if eligibility for that promotion was required to be based on cumulative years of service or years of service in grade and the disability was discovered as a result of a physical examination.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 137237:272(d) (104th through 128th words, as applicable to retired grade; and 2d and 5th provisos).37:279 (less applicability to 37:272(d) (last proviso)).Oct. 12, 1949, ch. 681, §§ 402(d) (104th through 128th words, as applicable to retired grade; and 2d and 5th provisos), 409 (less applicability to § 402(d) (last proviso)), 63 Stat. 818, 823. Clause (1) is substituted for 37:272(d) (104th through 128th words, as applicable to retired grade). The words “if his name was not carried on that list” are substituted for the words “whichever is earlier”.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1996—Pars. (3), (4). Pub. L. 104–201 substituted “a physical examination” for “his physical examination for promotion”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 1372

Title 10Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73