Retirement Credit for Academy Service as A Cadet or Midshipman, B-195448

• Court: Comptroller General of the United States
• Parties: RETIREMENT CREDIT FOR ACADEMY SERVICE AS A CADET OR MIDSHIPMAN.
• Docket Number: B-195448
• Decision Date: 03 April 1980

RETIREMENT CREDIT FOR ACADEMY SERVICE AS A CADET OR MIDSHIPMAN.

No. B-195448

Comptroller General of the United States

April 3, 1980

Digest: section 971 of title 10, U.S. Code, provides that cadet or midshipman service at a service academy May not be included in the computation of length of service for any purpose of an officer. 10 U.S.C. 971. However, this does not preclude the crediting of such service for the purposes of determining the eligibility of an enlisted member to retire under 10 U.S.C. 8914. Service as a cadet or midshipman at one of the academies is service in the navy, army, or air force since the academies are integral parts of those services.

The following question has been presented for advance decision:

"May a member count his cadet time spent in a military academy under the provisions of 10 U.S.C. 8911 or 8914 for retirement purposes?"

The answer is that service as a cadet or midshipman at a service academy is creditable for the purpose of determining eligibility for retirement under 10 U.S.C. 8914 (enlisted retirement) but is not creditable for a member retiring under 10 U.S.C. 8911 (commissioned officer retirement).

This question was asked by the assistant secretary of defense and he enclosed with it department of defense military pay and allowance committee action no. 545, containing a discussion of the question.

A factual situation typifying other cases is presented in the committee action. Staff sergeant john W. B. Shirley, USAF, xxx-xx-xxxx, enlisted in the regular army on May 28, 1957. On July 6, 1959, he was released from active duty to enter the United States military academy. He entered the academy on the following day and graduated June 4, 1963, receiving a commission as a second lieutenant in the regular air force on June 5, 1963. He served on active duty as an officer until June 29, 1977, when he was discharged from all appointments by resignation. On July 15, 1977, he enlisted in the regular air force and has continued on active duty to date in that status.

The committee action generally concludes that the only apparent bar to crediting cadet or midshipman service at one of the academies for the purposes of retirement is 10 U.S.C. 971, which prohibits the crediting of such service in computing for any purpose the length of service of an officer.

Subsection 971(a) provides in part that a period of service under an enlistment or period of obligated service while also serving as a cadet or midshipman at one of the service academies under an appointment accepted after June 25, 1956, May not be counted in computing the length of service of an officer of an armed force. Subsection (B) provides that no...