Title 10Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§9324 Forty years or more: Air Force officers and Space Force officers

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle D— - Air Force and Space Force › Part PART II— - PERSONNEL › Chapter CHAPTER 941— - RETIREMENT FOR LENGTH OF SERVICE › § 9324

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

A commissioned officer in the Air Force or Space Force with 40 or more years of service, counted the way section 9326 says, must be retired when they ask, unless section 1186 says otherwise. A warrant officer in those services with 40 or more years of service, counted under section 9326(a), must also be retired when they ask.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §9324

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Except as provided in section 1186 of this title, a commissioned officer of the Air Force or the Space Force who has at least 40 years of service computed under section 9326 of this title shall be retired upon his request.
(b)Any warrant officer of the Air Force or the Space Force who has at least 40 years of service computed under section 9326(a) of this title shall be retired upon his request.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 8924(a) 8924(b)10:942 (as applicable to commissioned officers).10:942 (less applicability to commissioned officers).June 30, 1882, ch. 254 (last 21 words of 3d proviso under “Pay Department”), 22 Stat. 118. In subsection (a), the words “Except as provided in section 8786 of this title” are inserted, since, under that revised section, when board proceedings are pending against a commissioned officer, his right to retire under this revised section, which is otherwise absolute, is discretionary with the Secretary under that revised section. In subsections (a) and (b), the words “or volunteer service, or both” are omitted as obsolete in accordance with an opinion of the Attorney General, 22 Ops. Atty. Gen. 199, Aug. 30, 1898, holding that such words refer to volunteer service in the Civil War. The words “upon his request” are substituted for the words “if he make application therefor to the President”. In subsection (b), the applicability of 10:942 to warrant officers is based on an opinion of the Judge Advocate General of the Army (JAGA 1950/6951, 4 Jan. 1951), which holds that 10:594 (less provisos) makes 10:942 applicable to warrant officers.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2021—Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “Forty years or more: Air Force officers and Space Force officers” for “Forty years or more: Air Force officers” in section catchline and inserted “or the Space Force” after “Air Force” in subsecs. (a) and (b). 2018—Pub. L. 115–232, § 809(a), substituted “section 9326” for “section 8926” in subsec. (a) and “section 9326(a)” for “section 8926(a)” in subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–232, § 806(b)(13), renumbered section 8924 of this title as this section. 1980—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–513 substituted “section 1186” for “section 8786”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of

Amendments

and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Effective Date

of 1980 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–513 effective Sept. 15, 1981, see section 701 of Pub. L. 96–513, set out as a note under section 101 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 9324

Title 10Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73