Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§20405 Force shaping authority

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle F— - Alternative Military Personnel Systems › Part PART I— - SPACE FORCE › Chapter CHAPTER 2009— - RETENTION AND SEPARATION GENERALLY › § 20405

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Air Force may, only to restructure the Space Force, discharge certain Space Force officers or force them off sustained duty. This applies to officers on sustained duty who have six years or less of commissioned service, or who have more than six years but have not finished their minimum service obligation. The term minimum service obligation means the initial required active-duty period plus any extra active-duty time added during that initial period. The Secretary must write rules to explain how to use this authority.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §20405

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of the Air Force may, solely for the purpose of restructuring the Space Force—

(1)discharge an officer described in subsection (b); or

(2)involuntarily release such an officer from sustained duty.

(b)(1)The authority under this section may be exercised in the case of an officer of the Space Force serving on sustained duty who—

(A)has completed not more than six years of service as a commissioned officer in the armed forces; or

(B)has completed more than six years of service as a commissioned officer in the armed forces, but has not completed the minimum service obligation applicable to that officer.

(2)In this subsection, the term “minimum service obligation”, with respect to a member of the Space Force, means the initial period of required active duty service applicable to the member, together with any additional period of required active duty service incurred by that member during the member’s initial period of required active duty service.

(c)The Secretary of the Air Force shall prescribe regulations for the exercise of the Secretary’s authority under this section.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 20405

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73