Gray Zone Retirement question
Hello all, 18 year Army/ANG member getting close to retirement and I have a question. I have read that when you are in the gray zone you still accrual time for the rank you retired at (Until that rank ‘maxes out’ in current pay tables). This lead me to wonder how does high 3 work? Let’s say you pinned your rank 2 years before you retire. Since you didn’t have 3 years (high 3) while serving at that rank but you still gain ‘time‘ while in the gray zone, would you retire and receive pay that rank? Or would it default to the previous rank since you have high 3 with it? Would it be prorated as 2 years current rank, 1 year previous rank? [I know this wouldn’t happen] Could you pin rank the day before you retire and obtain high 3 in the gray zone (provided you were young enough to have 3 years in the gray zone)? Wouldn’t your high 3 always be the 3 years before you can collect (assuming the military keeps getting raises annually)