GENERAL ORDERS, No. 55. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, Washington, May 6, 1885. The following regulations concerning enlisted men to be retired from active service under provisions of the act of Congress approved February 14, 1885, having been approved by the Secretary of War, are published for the information and guidance of all concerned: I..Service in the Armies of the United States and in the Marine Corps will be combined in making up the period of thirty years contemplated by the act hereinbefore mentioned. Enlisted men upon the retired list are additional to the number otherwise provided for by law. II..After approval of an enlisted man's application for retirement, an order will be issued from the Adjutant General's Office transferring him to the retired list. Upon receipt of such order by his immediate commanding officer, final statements will be prepared, closing accounts of pay, allowances, and deposits to date of order for retirement. No discharge will be given, however, and the soldier will be regarded as continuing in service upon the retired list, but will be dropped from the rolls of his former command. A descriptive list (in duplicate), with fact of final statements being furnished noted thereon, together with the retired soldier's post-office address for the next thirty days, will be immediately forwarded through the official channels to the Adjutant General of the Army. Retired soldiers are entitled to the usual travel allowances to the place of enlistment. III..On the last day of each calendar month, retired enlisted men will report to the Adjutant General of the Army their post-office address, and will promptly report any change therein. Blank forms for personal reports and pay-accounts, with official penalty envelopes for transmitting them, will be furnished retired enlisted men by the Adjutant General of the Army. IV.. The authorized pay and allowances of retired enlisted men will be paid them monthly by the Pay Department. Their pay will be threefourths of the monthly pay allowed by law to them in the grade they held when retired. In paying retired enlisted men, no deduction will be made either of the usual one dollar per month "retained pay" or of the monthly tax of twelve and a half cents for support of the Soldiers' Home. Service on the retired list does not entitle the enlisted man to any increase of re-enlisted pay beyond what had accrued at date of retirement, nor is he entitled to any commutation for fuel or quarters. Commutation for allowances of clothing and subsistence will be paid as follows: For subsistence.-Three-fourths of the allowance per ration (twenty-five cents) to men on furlough. Privates.. Sergeants and corporals of ordnauce being entitled by law to a ration and a half, their daily commutation of subsistence when retired will be twenty-eight and one-eighth cents. All other retired enlisted men will receive commutation of subsistence at the rate of eighteen and threefourths cents daily. For clothing.-Three-fourths of the average annual clothing allowance prescribed in orders for an enlistment of five years Until further orders, the following annual allowance for commutation of clothing of retired enlisted men will govern: Annual allowance for clothing of enlisted men, retired. Commissary sergeants Ordnance: Corporals $31 48 31 04 31 42 29 62 Engineers: Sergeant majors.... Quartermaster sergeants Color sergeants Sergeants 28 47 33 29 32 96 32.58 32 13 Corporals 31 53 Musicians 31 70 Allowance of clothing to chief musicians same as to quartermaster ser geants. Sergeants of ordnance have no clothing allowance. V.. The Adjutant General of the Army will furnish each enlisted man on the retired list with a descriptive list, which he will forward at the end of each calendar month, with pay-accounts, signed in duplicate, to the paymaster designated by the chief paymaster of the department in which the man resides, by whom payments will be noted thereupon. If the soldier cannot write, his "mark" should be witnessed by a commissioned officer, if practicable; otherwise by some well-known person, preferably the postmaster of his place of residence. VI..The Pay Department will be reimbursed by the Subsistence Department for all amounts expended in paying commutation of rations under this order. BY COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL SHERIDAN: OFFICIAL: R. C. DRUM, Assistant Adjutant General. Adjutant General. |