Double Dipping Retirement

[Falcon12]

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Hey y'all,
I am looking at the Reserves/VA as an option after my service commitment

Pros:
- Choose your location
- Comparable pay for FM
- No expectation of becoming admin monkey
- I am within 5 years of being vested with VA retirement and getting reserve retirement (with buy back into FERS w/ service academy would have 16 yrs up front, and with new Navy determination for critical wartime specialties I might be able to tack on 4 years of HPSP time to reserve retirement bringing me to 16 years)
- Higher retirement pay (Reserve retirement comparable to blended retirement and VA retirement pay is a multiplier of Base + Market pay)

Cons:
Retirement pay starts later

Hx: Prior AF officer who went to Service Academy w/ 5 yrs AD. Went Navy HPSP, finished FM residency and am year into payback. Will have 12 years AD time when ADSD finished. Would like to separate to have a home base for my family.

The main drawback I see of retirement pay starting later doesn't seem that bad to me since my goal is to work until early 50s at least and much of the early years of AD retirement pay would have less marginal utility for me and would be taxed at a higher rate. Also, with a long enough timeline in retirement, it looks like the double retirement would considerably outpace the AD retirement in the later years.

Has anyone done double retirement with Reserve/VA?

Is the VA a reasonable value for FM physicians with higher time in service?

Does anyone have gouge on navigating transition to Reserves in Medical Corps?

 

[Saddleshoes]

I like the way you are thinking!

I cannot comment on your exact plan as I got out and went with the Air Guard and a State Job.
In my case the State Job offered all the "Pros" you listed, plus my military time counted toward retirement with the state.

So you might want to consider a State Job while you are doing this thinking.

 

[Apollyon]

Why did you put "state job" in italics, 3 times?

 

[Saddleshoes]

Why did you put "state job" in italics, 3 times?

I don't know!

 

[MTGas2B]

BTDT, not FM. Agree, can be a good deal to recapture your active duty time.

I think the biggest variable is Family Med gig a particular VA. If you've seen one VA, you've seen one VA.

For reserve time, you get a limited bucket military leave. Currently it's 20 days year, just got increased this year, can carry some over. Depending on your units schedule that could be plenty. If you have a busy unit, it may not be.

I can't speak to the reserve experience, I'm different branch, different specialty.