My history is similar...active duty 80-84, reserves 84-00, active duty again 00-03, retired from the reserves in 04; I’m not yet eligible for retired pay. I will receive a generous amount of retired pay plus other bennies that I worked for. No, I didn’t deploy to either Iraq of Afghanistan but I was on a short list to go shortly after 9/11. Luck of the draw.
I don’t begrudge he author for saying that his bennies (and by extension mine) are too generous but I’d respectfully disagree. If you want a military that people will want to join, you have to provide competitive pay and bennies in wartime and in peacetime. Yes, people do need to understand the risks inherent in military service but they should be appropriately compensated.
I think that the guy is being misleading at the very least. When he retired from the reserves and was under 60 years of age, he was not eligible for TRICARE, but he could buy TRICARE coverage for himself and his family. Once he turned 60, then he became eligible for TRICARE, but only for 5 years. At 65, he becomes eligible for Medicare and his TRICARE becomes TRICARE for LIFE, a second payer only.
That’s probably about right given his service. He wants his uninformed readers that he has received full healthcare free of charge ever since he first joined the military and that is just not true. But, he has an agenda, doesn’t he.
My father's history was similar. He served stateside during WW2 as an administrative officer(Lt Col) and maintained a reserve status afterwards. The only requirement for the reserve status was taking extension courses(by mail).
That entitled him to a pension later. Initially, Tricare was not part of his retirement benefits, but was eventually added. He lived until age 99.
He told me that there was some degree of resentment amongst active duty retirees towards reserve officer retirees.