§638b Voluntary Retirement Incentive

Summary

Allows the Secretary of Defense to let each military department offer a one-time voluntary retirement incentive payment to certain officers. The authority to offer these payments ends as the Secretary of Defense decides, but no later than December 31, 2018. No more than 675 officers may get the payment. To be eligible, an officer must have served more than 20 but not more than 29 years on active duty when they retire, meet the branch’s minimum commissioned-service rules (see sections 7311, 8323, or 9311), have at least 12 months left before hitting the maximum years of service for their grade (see sections 633 or 634), and have at least 12 months left before reaching any statutory maximum retirement age. The military secretary can add other limits like specific skills, grades, or required service. Officers under disability evaluation, projected for certain retirements or disability separations, on the temporary disability retired list, or facing disciplinary or administrative separation are not eligible. The payment may be up to 12 times the officer’s monthly basic pay and can be paid in a lump sum. If an officer who took the payment returns to active duty, the amount must be repaid by payroll deductions until paid back, unless they were involuntarily recalled. The Secretary of Defense may waive repayment for equity or the public interest; that waiver authority can be delegated only to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and the Principal Deputy.