{"id":54570,"date":"2015-09-21T04:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T04:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2015\/09\/21\/ask-the-lawyer-trouble-could-force-you-to-retire-at-lower-grade\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:48:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:48:32","slug":"ask-the-lawyer-trouble-could-force-you-to-retire-at-lower-grade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2015\/09\/21\/ask-the-lawyer-trouble-could-force-you-to-retire-at-lower-grade\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the Lawyer: \u2018Trouble\u2019 could force you to retire at lower grade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q. I want to retire after more than 20 years of service. I got in some trouble a few months ago and am wondering: Will that affect my retirement?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A.<\/strong> In this era of military downsizing and belt-tightening, you will want to watch out for the government&#8217;s attempts to retire you at a lower grade level. By taking such an action, the government can cost you thousands of dollars in pension benefits over your lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each branch of the military has its own way of making such grade determinations. Branch boards or other entities must weigh in on whether the member&#8217;s service at the highest grade held was satisfactory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under Army Regulation 15-80, for example, service in the highest grade is unsatisfactory when it results from a terminal leave promotion, as in an honorary promotion; when the grade was lowered for misconduct; or when &#8220;[t]here is sufficient unfavorable information to establish that the soldier&#8217;s service in the grade in question was unsatisfactory.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Service members need to be especially wary of that last point. That&#8217;s because the grade determination review board&#8217;s examination is not limited to information in the service member&#8217;s official military personnel file \u2014 evidence of a civilian arrest or other negative information is fair game for consideration by the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the military does use such non-OMPF information to argue for an unsatisfactory determination, the service member usually must be given the opportunity to review it, and, with the help of a military law attorney, submit a written response. The service member also can submit information not in his or her OMPF to the board to support the application for a satisfactory determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such non-OMPF information could include supporting statements from nonmilitary personnel. The applicant&#8217;s military law attorney also will want to include supporting statements from peers and commanders as well as documentation highlighting service achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Service members looking to retire should not let the government get away with making mountains out of molehills just so it can save a few bucks. As AR 15-80 states, &#8220;One specific act of misconduct may or may not form the basis for a determination that the overall service in that grade was unsatisfactory, regardless of the period of time served in grade.&#8221; The Navy&#8217;s OPNAV Instruction 1811.3A also supports this approach, noting that one of the factors on which satisfactory determinations can hinge includes &#8220;[t]he nature and severity of any misconduct.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Service members coming up on 20 years of service or longer and who are concerned about efforts by the government to reduce their retirement rank should consult with a military law attorney. An attorney can help fight the government&#8217;s attempt to retire him or her at a lower grade level by preparing matters for submission to a grade determination review board in support of the service member&#8217;s application for retirement at their highest rank achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Mathew B. Tully is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and founding partner of Tully Rinckey PLLC (<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fedattorney.com\/\"><em>www.fedattorney.com<\/em><\/a><em>). Email questions to askthelawyer@militarytimes.com. The information in this column is not intended as legal advice.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evidence of a civilian arrest or other negative information could indeed affect your military retirement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":61867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[15,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1123],"class_list":["post-54570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"45NMEM3BIFDV7I2GHRBRKFRG4M","arc_canonical_url":"\/2015\/09\/21\/ask-the-lawyer-trouble-could-force-you-to-retire-at-lower-grade\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ask the Lawyer: \u2018Trouble\u2019 could force you to retire at lower grade - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Evidence of a civilian arrest or other negative information could indeed affect your military retirement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2015\/09\/21\/ask-the-lawyer-trouble-could-force-you-to-retire-at-lower-grade\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ask the Lawyer: \u2018Trouble\u2019 could force you to retire at lower grade\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Evidence of a civilian arrest or other negative information could indeed affect your military retirement.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2015\/09\/21\/ask-the-lawyer-trouble-could-force-you-to-retire-at-lower-grade\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-21T04:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T06:48:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mathew B. Tully\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mathew B. 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