Service buyback at USCGA

thateuropalegendlad said:
Does the USCGA have the same federal service buy back clause as the other academies. Say I wanted to go into federal service, would these 4 years count as enlisted service?
www.gao.gov

Retirement Credit for Academy Service As A Cadet or Midshipman

The Department of Defense asked GAO to determine if a member can count his cadet time spent in a Military Academy for retirement purposes. GAO held...
www.gao.gov www.gao.gov
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The clause says Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force, but does not state CG.
 
It’s not the Coast Guard that would have policies about that service, but OPM, Office of Personnel Management, which governs federal service. Do some searching there.
 
The USCGA DOES have the same federal service buy back clause as the other academies. You're conflating two separate issues here:
  1. military retirement time in service computation
  2. federal buy back of time.
1. Military Retirement Time in Service for Pension purposes:
CG Separations Manual CH 3.B.4.

The link you provided talks about military retirement pension. Per the CG Separations Manual 3.B.4.:
Service time while attending the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. This service credit iscreditable only for enlisted members. Service time while attending the U.S. Coast GuardAcademy may not be counted in computing, for any purpose, the length of service of an officer
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This is if a cadet were to leave the USCGA and go on to do service as an enlisted member. I actually had a classmate get separated for having a child 2 weeks before graduation, he's still in and enlisted. So he has around 13 years of service at this point as an enlisted person. If he commissions my understanding is that his enlisted time wouldn't count towards service as an O.

2. Federal Buy Back of Time
This link explains more in depth from C.L. Sheldon & Company
There are a couple of ways of looking at this one:
  1. You retire with 20 years of military service (keeping in mind that your 4 years as a cadet/mid do not count within this)
  2. You separate before retirement. Say you "five and dive" like I did.
2.1. Retired w/20+ years
Congratulations on retirement. You now elect to go into Fed service as a GS. You cannot buy back your 20+ years of military time that counts towards retirement per the FERS. That would affect your military pension. However, you CAN buy back your cadet/mid time at USCGA or another Academy. That's 4 years. You could potentially work another 6 and then retire with the buy back.

2.2 You separated
You'll want to sell back your time on active duty to the government as well as get credit for your service academy time. That would give you 9 years of credible federal service.
 
Remember that the Coast Guard is not part of DOD but rather Homeland Security so the rules are different from the other service academies.
 
conrack said:
Remember that the Coast Guard is not part of DOD but rather Homeland Security so the rules are different from the other service academies.
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I'm a USCGA graduate, I don't think you need to remind me of that ;)

Link explaining USCGA graduates included

The biggest advantage to being "forgotten" is that those who entered the USCGA before January 2011 got the GI bill on their 3rd year anniversary of graduation. Took an act of Congress to change that :cool:
 
Not absolutely sure, but as a former enlisted I bought back twelve years of CG AD service and retired from US Customs with 22 years of service (12+10). NOT cheap, had over $400 taken out of every paycheck. If I remember correctly you must buy it all back within five years of entering Civil Service. Not sure Commissioned Officers have the same option, as stated above OPM is the determining factor.
 
SamAca10 said:
2.2 You separated
You'll want to sell back your time on active duty to the government as well as get credit for your service academy time. That would give you 9 years of credible federal service.
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Sounds like a pretty good deal. So if someone separates and later on gets a job at a federal agency, they could theoretically do just 11 years and get a pension + healthcare benefits once they hit the minimum retirement age? Although I’ve heard the federal civil service pension has gotten a bit worse over the years.
 
Kierkegaard said:
Sounds like a pretty good deal. So if someone separates and later on gets a job at a federal agency, they could theoretically do just 11 years and get a pension + healthcare benefits once they hit the minimum retirement age? Although I’ve heard the federal civil service pension has gotten a bit worse over the years.
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I'm not as well versed on the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS). However, it would be worth it to calculate the value of a 20 year FERS pension vs a 30 year one. My understanding is that FERS pension isn't as high as a military pension in terms of compensation. However, any VA disability should help offset.

Credible Service in FERS for Service Academy graduates
 
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