For active duty military service between 1957 to 2001, service members are entitled to special military credits that boost their earnings which may increase their primary insurance amount (PIA) and social security payments.  For service after 1967 the social security administration (SSA) will automatically take care of adding this benefit.

However, if the service member had active duty service anytime between 1957 to 1967, they may have to bring record of that fact to the Social Security Administration to get their additional special military credits of $1,200 per year.  This equates to around an extra $12K/year of salary in today’s dollars.