Purchasing creditable service for Chapter 71 military service

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Purchasing creditable service
Chapter 71 Military Service

If you actively served in the United States military, you may be eligible to purchase credit for up to four years of your service.

To determine whether you may be eligible to purchase this type of service, please answer these questions:

1)	Are you a veteran, as defined in Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 32, Section 1 (see below)?	Yes No
2)	At the time of your anticipated service purchase, will you be either an active member of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System OR on an authorized leave of absence?	Yes No
3)	Have you received retirement credit for this service in any other Massachusetts contributory retirement system?	Yes No

Pursuant to M.G.L.c.32 §1, and c.4, §7, cl.43, you qualify as a veteran if you meet ONE of the following requirements:

1) You have at least 180 days of regular active duty service and you were honorably discharged or released.

2) You have at least 90 days of active duty service, at least one day of which was during wartime per the chart below, and you were honorably discharged or released.

To qualify as a veteran of this conflict...	...you must have at least one day of wartime service during this period
World War II Merchant Marine	September 16, 1940 through December 21, 1946 December 7, 1941 through December 31, 1946
Korea	June 25, 1950 through January 31, 1955
Korea-Vietnam	February 1, 1955 through August 4, 1964
Vietnam	August 5, 1964 through May 7, 1975
Lebanon*	August 25, 1982 through [date to be determined]
Grenada*	October 25, 1983 through December 15, 1983
Panama*	December 20, 1989 through January 31, 1990
Persian Gulf	August 2, 1990 through [date to be determined]

*Naval and Marine DD214 must indicate Expeditionary Medal. All DD214s must specify campaign: Lebanon, Grenada and Panama.

Please note that, pursuant to M.G.L. c4, §7, the six months of active duty for training in the Active Reserves and the National Guard does not qualify as active service toward the minimum period listed here. If your only active duty was active duty training, you are not eligible to purchase credit for your military service.

3) You served in wartime and were awarded a Purple Heart or service-connected disability, or died, regardless of whether you completed the minimum length of active duty service in the chart under (2), above.

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