AUGUST 18, 2016, WASHINGTON (NNS) – The Navy announced an update to the time-in-grade waiver policy for commanders and captains with at least 24-months time in grade (TIG) to request a waiver to retire at their current rank before completing their 36 month time-in-grade commitment in NAVADMIN 182/16 Aug. 17.
Rather than a blanket authorization for officer communities to forward a TIG request to the chief of naval personnel for approval determination as outlined in NAVADMIN 371/08, now every officer community will decide if TIG requests can be supported and only forward a request for consideration if community health would allow the early loss of that officer. However, hardship or special circumstance cases may be considered for all communities on a case-by-case basis.
The message also provides guidance on when an applicant should include a next-lower-grade (NLG) waiver request in the TIG waiver application. NLG waivers provide the option to retire at the next lower grade rather than the current rank. Navy Personnel Command (NPC) may authorize an officer to be retired the lower grade if they do not meet the time-in-grade requirement.
A spreadsheet of communities accepting TIG and NLG waivers is posted at www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/communitymanagers/pages/officer-retirement-waivers.aspx, click on Force Shaping Lever Chart to download the spreadsheet. This information will be updated by community managers as needed.
Officers are expected to meet their service obligations unless a TIG or NLG waiver is approved.
Retirement, TIG and NLG waiver requests for active component commanders and captains are made through NPC Officer Retirements Branch (PERS-835) by calling (901) 874-3180/3183 (DSN 882-3180), or emailing pers_835_retirements@navy.mil.
Reserve officers will submit their requests through NPC’s deputy director for Reserve Personnel Administration (PERS-91B) by calling (901) 874-4482/4483 (DSN 882-4483).