Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/1202

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PUBLIC LAW 7 7 3 - S E P T. 3, 1954

[68 S T A T.

(1) shall be afforded opportunity to request transfer to the Retired Reserve if qualified; and (2) if qualified and he elects transfer to the Retired Reserve, shall be so transferred; or (3) if not transferred to the Retired Reserve under (1) and (2) above, shall be transferred to the inactive status list or discharged in the discretion of the Secretary. (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, whenever the Secretary shall determine it to be necessary to provide a steady flow of promotion, an appropriate number of Reserve officers may be eliminated from an active status. (c) A Reserve officer not above the grade of lieutenant in the Naval Reserve or captain in the Marine Corps Reserve after failing of selection for promotion to the next higher grade a second time may be retained in or eliminated from an active status in the discretion of the Secretary. Other Reserve officers who are not on a promotion list after failing of selection for promotion to the next higher grade a second time shall be given opportunity to apply for transfer to the Retired Reserve if qualified, but unless so transferred shall be discharged if they have completed the following periods of total commissioned service for the grades specified: Grade

Captain-colonel Commander-lieutenant colonel Lieutenant commander-major

Total commissioned service

30 years 26 years 20 years

For the purposes of this subsection, the total commissioned service of an officer who shall have served continuously in the Naval Reserve or Marine Corps Reserve following appointment therein in the grade or rank of ensign or second lieutenant shall be computed from June 30 of the fiscal year in which he accepted appointment. Each other officer shall be deemed to have for these purposes as much total commissioned service as any officer of the line of the Regular Navy not restricted in performance of duty, or officer of the Regular Marine Corps, as appropriate, who has served continuously since original appointment as ensign in the Regular Navy or as second lieutenant in the Regular Marine Corps and has not lost numbers or precedence and who is or subsequent to September 6, 1947, shall have been junior to such other officer, except that the total commissioned service such other officer shall be deemed to have shall not be less than the actual number of years he has served in commissioned officer status above the grade of commissioned warrant officer. (d) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, a woman Reserve officer may be retained in or eliminated from an active status in the discretion of the Secretary at the times prescribed by law for the retirement or separation from the active list of the woman line officer of the Regular Navy or the Regular Marine Corps next junior to her or at any time thereafter. For the purposes of this subsection only, all commissioned service shall be considered as active commissioned service. (e) An officer of any grade of the Nurse Corps of the Naval Reserve may be eliminated from an active status under the conditions prescribed by law for the separation from the active list of an officer of the same grade in the Nurse Corps of the Regular Navy by reason of age or failure of selection for promotion. (f) No Reserve officer shall be involuntarily eliminated from an active status pursuant to subsections (b), (d), and (e) of this section except upon the recommendation of a Board which shall be appointed by the Secretary and convened at such times as he may direct.

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