Select Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Public Safety and Security Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING RETIREMENT FROM MILITARY SERVICE
SUMMARY: This act makes all enlisted Connecticut National Guard members, not just officers and warrant officers who meet certain service criteria, eligible to retire from active service and be placed on the National Guard's list of retirees (“retired list”). Members on the retired list may be voluntarily recalled to active duty by the governor and, when performing such duty, receive the same pay and allowances as members of a similar grade on the active list.
The act also sets the mandatory retirement age for all guard members, not just officers and warrant officers, at 64 or as set by laws and regulations governing the National Guard.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
RETIRED LIST
Under prior law, an officer or warrant officer who served 10 years as an officer or enlisted person, including at least three years as a commissioned officer or warrant officer, could apply and be placed on the retired list in the highest grade in which he or she served. An officer or warrant officer who served 20 or more years could apply and be commissioned and placed on the list at the next highest grade at which he or she was ever commissioned, but no higher than a general.
The act allows (1) all members who serve 10 years to apply to be placed on the list in the highest grade in which they served and (2) all members who serve 20 or more years to apply to be placed on the list at one grade above the highest grade they ever held, but not above brigadier general or sergeant major.
The act allows each member only one retirement promotion, and it requires that applications be timely and submitted to the adjutant general through the chain of command before the member retires. Under prior law, an officer could apply (1) while in service, through proper officers, or (2) after leaving service, directly to the adjutant general.
By law, people on the retired list must be withdrawn from command and line of promotion. The act requires that they be removed from unit rosters as well. Also, by law, they (1) must be kept on the state armed forces register; (2) are subject to the National Guard's rules and regulations; (3) may wear, within the limitations of law and regulations, the uniform of the rank at which they retired; (4) may, if they consent, be detailed from the retired list and placed on active duty at the governor's order; and (5) serve without pay, except when on such duty, in which case, they are entitled to the same pay and allowances as officers of a similar grade on the active list.
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