Montana Title 19. Public Retirement Systems § 19-19-406. Election to qualify previous military service

(1) A member with 15 years or more of service as a police officer may, at any time prior to retirement, make a written election with the board to qualify all or any portion of the member's active service in the armed forces of the United States for the purpose of calculating retirement benefits, up to a maximum of 5 years, if the member is not otherwise eligible to receive credit. To qualify this service, the member shall contribute to the account the actuarial cost of granting the service to be determined by the board based on the member's compensation and normal contribution rate as of the member's 16th year and as many succeeding years as are required to qualify this service, with interest from the date of eligibility for this benefit to the date of contribution. The member may not qualify more military service than the service as a police officer in excess of 15 years. Military service purchased under this section may not be used in the determination of eligibility for a service retirement requiring a minimum of 20 years service.

(2) If a member has retired from active duty in the armed forces of the United States with normal service retirement benefits, the member may not qualify military service under subsection (1). However, a member who is serving or has served in the military reserves with the expectation of receiving a military service pension may qualify the member's active military service under subsection (1) if the active duty in the armed forces of the United States is not more than 25% of the total of all years of military service, including reserve and active duty time.