Sanctuary Soldiers
A Sanctuary Soldier is a Reservist who has achieved 18 or more years of Active Federal Service that moves to Active Duty to complete a 20 year Active Duty obligation. Commonly referred to as the “18 year lock-in,” Reserve Component soldiers that file for Active Duty status after 18 Active Federal Service years become eligible for retirement.
Sanctuary Soldiers and the AKO
Sanctuary Soldiers are authorized to continue their full account access just as any member of the Reserve or Active Duty would but due to a quirk of our database there may be an accidental interruption in service. If you are a Sanctuary Soldier and experience any access restrictions that seem like they shouldn’t apply please contact the service desk and they can confirm what your status is in our database.
If there are any issues on AKO related to your status as a Sanctuary Soldier the likely cause is your presence in both the Reserve Component and Active Component databases and this will cause a conflict with the way our system is provided information that the potential interruption in service comes from. If this is the case only your personnel section can assist you with correcting the error; the AKO builds your account access profile off of the information provided to us by personnel and we can not change it ourselves.
If your personnel section is unable to assist you please email aesd.sanctuary.help@us.army.mil and attach a copy of your Sanctuary orders as well as much detail as possible regarding your situation and we will investigate the issue.
Other Resources
The following link is the Sanctuary Information Sheet. It is a list of questions that you may have about joining the Sanctuary program such as how you should apply, what your benefits are, and what your responsibilities are.
The following link is a collection of three memos from the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs (ASA-MRA); Management of Reserve Component Soldiers Retained on Active Duty for Sanctuary, Promotion of Mobilized Reserve Component Officers on the Reserve Active Status List, and Promotion of Volunteers on Active Duty Under the Provisions of Title 10, U.S. Code Section 12301(d). It also includes the Sanctuary Notice Checklist which has your list of required documentation.
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