General Discussion

My first job was making sandwiches for for the "roach coach" on our local Navy base. I was technically a Federal employee (making minimum wage). I did that for 2 years in High School. Fast forward.... I graduate from college in 1990 and go to work for the Navy as a Flight Test Engineer. I work for the Navy for 20 years before leaving the Federal Government and going private. Some years later, I realize I am eligible to start drawing my Federal pension. I fill out the mountain of paperwork. It takes over a year to get it processed. Finally, I get an email from my final processor.

It says I had 2 years in the 80's where I was a Federal Employee but did not participate in the pension plan. Yup. When I was a sandwich maker. But I had a one-time opportunity to pay the pension contruibutions (with interest) to have those years count. Because of the way the pension formula works, those two years as a GS-2 Sandwich Maker count as years of service at "high three" salary. I left the Government as a GS-13 Senior Flight Test Engineer. The required contribution was a tad salty, but the impact on my pension was crazy. In the first year alon, I recoup the required pension contribution and and in two years, I actually make more in pension than I did in my entire time as a GS-2 sandwich maker. Good times!