Military Retirement Planner
Retirement & VA Disability Pay Calculator
Estimate your monthly pension under the Blended Retirement System (BRS) or Legacy High-3, convert Guard/Reserve points, and model VA disability offsets and concurrent receipt — computed from the official 2026 DFAS pay table and VA compensation rates. Below is a default example; set your own grade, years, and ratings in the interactive planner.
2026 Example: E-7 Retiring at 20 Years of Service
A Sergeant First Class (E-7) retiring at 20 years, using the 2026 pay-table rate as the High-3 estimate, with a 50% VA disability rating. An illustrative example — your High-3 average and rating will differ.
| Retirement Income Stream | Monthly |
|---|---|
| BRS Pension (2.0% × 20 yrs = 40% of $6,245.00 High-3 estimate) | $2,498.00 |
| VA Disability at 50% (tax-free, veteran-alone 2026 rate) | $1,132.90 |
| Combined Monthly (CRDP — no offset at 20 yrs & 50%+) | $3,630.90 |
| Legacy High-3 Pension, for comparison (2.5% × 20 yrs) | $3,122.50 |
Pension figures use the 2026 DFAS pay-table rate for an E-7 at 20 years as the High-3 estimate; a real high-36-month average is typically slightly lower.
Military Retirement & VA Disability Pay: Complete Guide
By MilPayGuide · Reviewed against official rate tables · October 2026
Military retirement is governed by Title 10 of the United States Code and coordinated with Title 38 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation laws. Whether planning an active-duty career under the Blended Retirement System (BRS) or Legacy High-3, or tracking Guard/Reserve retirement points, understanding the pension multiplier formulas, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), and concurrent receipt rules ensures you maximize your lifetime earned benefits.
Blended Retirement System (BRS)
Mandatory for members joining on or after January 1, 2018. Features a 2.0% per year pension multiplier (40% at 20 years, 60% at 30 years). Provides an automatic 1% agency contribution and up to 4% matching into the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), plus a one-time cash Continuation Pay bonus between 8 and 12 years of service.
Legacy High-3 System
Applies to members who entered service before 2018 and did not opt into BRS. Features a 2.5% per year pension multiplier (50% at 20 years, 75% at 30 years). Offers no government TSP match or continuation pay.
Concurrent Receipt (CRDP) vs. Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC)
Historically, federal law prohibited “double-dipping” from the Treasury, forcing military retirees to forfeit one dollar of taxable military pension for every dollar of tax-free VA disability compensation received. Congress enacted two programs to eliminate or offset this reduction:
CRDP (10 U.S.C. § 1414)
- Requires 20+ years of active duty (or equivalent Reserve retirement).
- Requires a service-connected VA disability rating of 50% or higher.
- Completely automatic—no application needed with DFAS.
- Restores the taxable military pension; VA check remains tax-free.
CRSC (10 U.S.C. § 1413a)
- Available to retirees with 10%–100% combat-related ratings.
- Open to Chapter 61 medical retirees with under 20 years of service.
- Requires a formal application (DD Form 2860) to your service branch.
- Special monthly reimbursement is 100% tax-free income.
Guard & Reserve Non-Regular Retirement Rules
Guard and Reserve members earn retirement points through drill periods (1 point per 4-hour UTA), active-duty training (1 point per day), funeral honors, and correspondence courses. When calculating non-regular retirement pay under 10 U.S.C. § 12733:
Equivalent Active Years = Total Creditable Career Points ÷ 360For example, a traditional reservist retiring with 3,600 career points has 10 equivalent active years. Under BRS (2.0% multiplier), the member receives 20.0% of their final High-3 basic pay when their pension begins. Qualifying contingency deployments reduce the pension start age from 60 down to as low as age 50 under the NDAA 2008 early retirement provision.
Frequently Asked Questions: Military Retirement Pay
- How is a military pension calculated under the Blended Retirement System (BRS)?
- Under 10 U.S.C. § 1409, the BRS defined-benefit pension equals 2.0% multiplied by your creditable years of service, multiplied by your highest-36-month average basic pay (High-3). At 20 years of active duty, the pension multiplier is 40.0% (for example, roughly $2,498.00/month for an E-7 retiring in 2026). In addition to the pension, BRS provides automatic 1% DoD TSP contributions, up to 4% matching (5% total match), and mid-career Continuation Pay.
- What is the core difference between BRS and Legacy High-3?
- The Legacy High-3 system offers a higher defined-benefit multiplier of 2.5% per year of service (reaching 50.0% at 20 years, or roughly $3,122.50/month for an E-7, compared to 40.0% under BRS). However, Legacy High-3 provides zero government TSP matching and zero vesting before 20 years. Service members who separated before 20 years under High-3 left with no retirement benefit, whereas BRS members retain vested DoD TSP matching funds after two years of service.
- How does VA disability compensation affect military retired pay?
- By statutory default (38 U.S.C. §§ 5304-5305), receiving VA disability compensation requires waiving an equal amount of taxable military retirement pay. However, under Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP, 10 U.S.C. § 1414), military retirees with 20 or more years of service and a VA disability rating of 50% or higher receive both their full military pension and their full tax-free VA disability check simultaneously without any offset. For an E-7 with a 50% rating in 2026, this combines roughly $2,498.00 in pension with $1,132.90 in tax-free VA compensation ($3,630.90/month total).
- What is Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) and who qualifies?
- Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC, 10 U.S.C. § 1413a) is a special tax-free monthly payment that restores military retired pay lost to the VA disability offset for disabilities directly resulting from armed conflict, hazardous duty, instrumentality of war, or simulated combat training. Unlike CRDP, CRSC is completely exempt from federal and state income taxes and is available to eligible retirees with any rating (10% to 100%), including medically retired service members (Chapter 61) with fewer than 20 years of service.
- How do Guard and Reserve retirement points convert into retired pay?
- Under 10 U.S.C. § 12733, non-regular retirement pay is computed by dividing total lifetime retirement points by 360 to produce equivalent active-duty years. The standard pension multiplier (2.0% for BRS, 2.5% for High-3) is applied to that figure against the High-3 basic pay of the member's grade at the time of retirement. Reserve retired pay typically begins at age 60, but under the 2008 NDAA, each qualifying 90-day period of active service deployed in support of contingency operations reduces the eligibility age by 3 months, down to a floor of age 50.