10 U.S.C. § 3964
Section 3964 · Higher grade after 30 years of service: warrant officers and enlisted members
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case French v. United States (1998)
Most recently applied in French v. United States (October 1998)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Each retired member of the Army covered by subsection (b) who is retired with less than 30 years of active service is entitled, when his active service plus his service on the retired list totals 30 years, to be advanced on the retired list to the highest grade in which he served on active duty satisfactorily (or, in the case of a member of the National Guard, in which he served on full-time duty satisfactorily), as determined by the Secretary of the Army.
(b) This section applies to—
(1) warrant officers of the Army;
(2) enlisted members of the Regular Army; and
(3) reserve enlisted members of the Army who, at the time of retirement, are serving on active duty (or, in the case of members of the National Guard, on full-time National Guard duty).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
10:1004 (less 30 words before proviso). Aug. 21, 1941, ch. 384, §5 (1st proviso, less last 39 words; and last proviso); restated June 29, 1948, ch. 708, §203(c) (1st proviso, less last 39 words; and last proviso), 62 Stat. 1085; May 29, 1954, ch. 249, §19(f), 68 Stat. 167. June 29, 1948, ch. 708, §203(e) (less 30 words before proviso), 62 Stat. 1086. The words “when his active service plus his service on the retired list totals 30 years” are substituted for the words “upon the completion of thirty years’ [years of] service, to include the sum of his active service and his service on the retired list”, in 10:594 and 1004. The words “under any provision of law”, in 10:594 and 1004; “officer, flight officer, or warrant officer”, in 10:594; and “commissioned, warrant, or enlisted”, in 10:1004; are omitted as surplusage. 10:594 (last proviso) and 1004 (proviso) are omitted as superseded by section 1372 of this title.
Amendments
1987—Pub. L. 100–180 substituted “warrant officers and enlisted members” for “Army warrant officers; regular enlisted members” in section catchline and amended text generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “Each warrant officer of the Army, and each enlisted member of the Regular Army, who is retired before or after this title is enacted is entitled, when his active service plus his service on the retired list totals 30 years, to be advanced on the retired list to the highest grade in which he served on active duty satisfactorily, as determined by the Secretary of the Army.”
1984—Pub. L. 98–525 substituted “highest grade” for “highest temporary grade”.
1958—Pub. L. 85–861 struck out “, after September 8, 1940 and before July 1, 1946” after “Secretary of the Army”.
Effective Date of 1987 Amendment
Section 512(f) of Pub. L. 100–180 provided that: “The amendments made by subsections (a) and (c) [amending this section and section 8964 of this title] shall apply to any reserve enlisted member who completes 30 years of service in the Armed Forces before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 4, 1987]. No person may be paid retired pay at a higher rate by reason of the enactment of this Act [Pub. L. 100–180, see Tables for classification] for any period before the date of the enactment of this Act.”
Cross References
Recomputation of retired pay to reflect advancement on retired list, see section 3992 of this title.