I'm considering a career in the military, but I've also thought about working a government job first. Can time in a government job contribute to military retirement? Curious about how this all works!
Definitely, a valid question to ask considering your career path. A common benefit both military and federal government jobs share is the retirement plan under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). If you have served in the military, your active-duty service time could be credited for civil service retirement under FERS. It's known as "buying back" your military service.
This essentially works like this: if you have three years of military service, and you 'buy back' that time when you start a federal job, those three years will count towards your federal pension as though you spent them in the federal job.
There are some specifics you'll want to be aware of. One major condition is that you cannot double-dip - meaning you cannot receive retirement benefits from both a military retirement and a federal civil service retirement for the same span of years. If you receive a military retirement paycheck, you'll typically need to waive that military retirement pay to have your military service credited towards your federal civil service retirement.
However, there are exceptions to this in certain situations, such as for those veterans who retired from the military due to a disability as per regulations. It's always advised to connect with a Human Resources (HR) professional who understands these retirement systems to get accurate advice tailored to your personal situation.
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