10 U.S.C. § 8373 — Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve; officers: elimination from active status; computation of total commissioned service

(a) Subject to section 12645, the Navy Secretary may remove from active status^*, or release from active duty^* and place on the reserve active-status list^*, a Navy Reserve lieutenant or lieutenant (junior grade^*), or a Marine Corps Reserve captain or first lieutenant, in permanent grade, who is in active status and twice fails selection for the next higher grade while on the active-duty list^*. (b) An officer^* being removed under (a) must, if qualified, be given the chance to request transfer to the proper Retired Reserve and must be transferred there if requested. If not transferred, the Secretary may transfer the officer to the proper inactive-status list or discharge the officer from the Reserve. (c)(1) A Navy Reserve lieutenant commander or commander, or Marine Corps Reserve major or lieutenant colonel, in permanent grade and active status who twice fails selection for the next higher grade while on the active-duty list must, if qualified, be given the chance to request transfer to the proper Retired Reserve. If not transferred, the officer must be discharged after completing the total commissioned service specified here: a Navy commander or Marine lieutenant colonel, 28 years; a Navy lieutenant commander or Marine major, 20 years. (2) Despite paragraph (1), the Secretary may defer retirement or discharge for as many lieutenant commanders as needed to maintain authorized Ready Reserve strength, but no individual deferment may exceed five years. (3) The Secretary may defer retirement or discharge for an officer in any listed grade for a period no longer than the active-status service credited at original appointment or later under law, if the officer can complete at least 20 years of service calculated under section 12732 during the deferment. (4) The Secretary may defer retirement or discharge for as many Navy Reserve commanders in the Medical, Chaplain, or Dental Corps as needed for mobilization. (d) For subsection (c), an officer who continuously served in the Navy or Marine Corps Reserve after appointment as a permanent ensign or second lieutenant has total commissioned service counted from June 30 of the fiscal year in which the appointment was accepted. Every other officer is treated as having the same total commissioned service as the active commissioned-service years of the appropriate regular officer on the Navy or Marine Corps active-duty list who is unrestricted in duty, served continuously since original appointment as Navy ensign or Marine second lieutenant, has not lost number or precedence, and is or became junior to the officer after September 6, 1947. This treated service may not be less than the officer’s actual years as a commissioned officer^* above chief warrant officer^*, W-5.