10 U.S.C. § 653
Section 653 · Minimum service requirement for certain flight crew positions
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case 45 F. Supp. 759 - Ex parte McCollam (1942)
Most recently applied in 682 F. Supp. 2d 1117 - Gengler v. US EX REL. DEPT. OF DEFENSE AND NAVY (January 2010)
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) Pilots.—The minimum service obligation of any member who successfully completes training in the armed forces as a pilot shall be 8 years, if the member is trained to fly fixed-wing jet aircraft, or 6 years, if the member is trained to fly any other type of aircraft.
(b) Navigators and Naval Flight Officers.—The minimum service obligation of any member who successfully completes training in the armed forces as a navigator or naval flight officer shall be 6 years.
(c) Definition.—In this section, the term “service obligation” means the period of active duty or, in the case of a member of a reserve component who completed flight training in an active duty for training status as a member of a reserve component, the period of service in an active status in the Selected Reserve required to be served after—
(1) completion of undergraduate pilot training, in the case of training as a pilot;
(2) completion of undergraduate navigator training, in the case of training as a navigator; or
(3) completion of undergraduate training as a naval flight officer, in the case of training as a naval flight officer.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1992—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 102–484, §506(a)(1), substituted “service obligation” for “active duty obligation”.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102–484, §506(a)(2), substituted “the term ‘service obligation’ means the period of active duty or, in the case of a member of a reserve component who completed flight training in an active duty for training status as a member of a reserve component, the period of service in an active status in the Selected Reserve” for “the term ‘active duty obligation’ means the period of active duty”.
1990—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101–510, §1484(k)(3)(A), substituted “or” for “and” before “6 years”.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101–510, §1484(k)(3)(B), inserted a comma after first reference to “training” in pars. (1) and (2) and after first reference to “naval flight officer” in par. (3).
Effective Date of 1992 Amendment
Section 506(b) of Pub. L. 102–484 provided that: “The amendments made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall take effect as of November 29, 1989.”
Effective Date
Section 634(b) of Pub. L. 101–189 provided that:
“(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), section 653 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(1), shall apply to persons who begin undergraduate pilot training, undergraduate navigator training, or undergraduate naval flight officer training, as the case may be, after September 30, 1990.
“(2) Such section shall apply to persons who graduate from the United States Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, the United States Air Force Academy, and the Coast Guard Academy after December 31, 1991, and to persons who satisfactorily complete the academic and military requirements of the Senior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program (provided for in chapter 103 of title 10, United States Code) after December 31, 1991.
“(3) The minimum service requirements provided for such section shall not apply in the case of any person who entered into an agreement with the Secretary concerned before October 1, 1990, and who is obligated under the terms of such agreement to serve on active duty for a period less than the applicable period specified in section 653 of such title.
“(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘Secretary concerned’ has the meaning given that term in section 101(8) of title 10, United States Code.”