10 U.S.C. § 14507

(a) Lieutenant Colonels and Commanders .— Unless continued on the reserve active-status list under section 14701, 14701a, or 14702 of this title or retained as provided in section 12646 or 12686 of this title, each reserve officer of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps who holds the grade of lieutenant colonel or commander and who is not on a list of officers recommended for promotion to the next higher grade shall (if not earlier removed from the reserve active-status list) be removed from that list under section 14514 of this title on the first day of the month after the month in which the officer completes 28 years of commissioned service. (b) Colonels and Navy Captains .— Unless continued on the reserve active-status list under section 14701, 14701a, or 14702 of this title or retained as provided in section 12646 or 12686 of this title, each reserve officer of the Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps who holds the grade of colonel, and each reserve officer of the Navy who holds the grade of captain, and who is not on a list of officers recommended for promotion to the next higher grade shall (if not earlier removed from the reserve active-status list) be removed from that list under section 14514 of this title on the first day of the month after the month in which the officer completes 30 years of commissioned service. This subsection does not apply to the adjutant general or assistant adjutants general of a State. (c) Temporary Authority To Retain Certain Officers Designated as Judge Advocates .— (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) and (b), the Secretary of the Air Force may retain on the reserve active-status list any reserve officer of the Air Force who is designated as a judge advocate and who obtained the first professional degree in law while on an educational delay program subsequent to being commissioned through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. (2) No more than 50 officers may be retained on the reserve active-status list under the authority of paragraph (1) at any time. (3) No officer may be retained on the reserve active-status list under the authority of paragraph (1) for a period exceeding three years from the date on which, but for that authority, that officer would have been removed from the reserve active-status list under subsection (a) or (b). (4) The authority of the Secretary of the Air Force under paragraph (1) expires on September 30, 2003 .