If you have 30 or more years serving in the Reserves or National Guard, do they encourage you to retire or can you stay in until age 60?

They have high year of tenure for the Reserves and Guard, however there are waivers.

Some of this changes based on retention and manning and the needs of the military. In my situation for my last several years of serving I had to obtain a reenlistment waiver for reenlisting and staying in the Reserves. It did not matter that I was on active duty at the time and had orders in hand for another tour of active duty when the third and last waiver was denied for me staying in the Reserves. HYT was not a factor in this either but instead the slot and rank I held overall and the Reserves wanting that slot so that others could be promoted. So HYT can or might not be a factor in you staying in over so many years. I was later approached about being recalled from retirement even and going back in which I turned down since it was only for 180 days rather than what the regulations stipulated of a year. A year more would have bumped up my retirement and made it an active duty retirement and me collecting my pension before age 60 and the Reserves would have had to pay that portion then and were unwilling to do so. So things can get tricky with all this and there are other factors beyond HYT that can create problems for someone wanting to stay in.

UP OR OUT applies to the Reserves and Guard too. You need to be promoted in a reasonable fashion. If all you make is Major then you will not be allowed to stay in forever, they will kick you out to make room for younger more qualified candidates.

NO. They just don't allow you to reenlist.

eqiamyom