Plan Your CIVMAR Retirement with Confidence
Expert guidance on FERS, TSP, military buybacks, and everything you need to navigate your federal retirement.
About the Author
Mark Brown
Founder of High3Team.com, Mark Brown has spent over 22 years helping federal employees with complex, non-traditional careers navigate retirement. From High-3 calculations and FERS quirks to military buybacks and TSP strategy, Mark has guided hundreds of retirees, including CIVMARs, through the maze of federal benefits with clarity and care.
High 3 Team provides workshops and individual services to CIVMARs, Federal Firefighters, Air Traffic Controllers, and Federal Law Enforcement. These job series represent only 5.6% of the federal workforce and often have difficulty finding accurate guidance on base pay, leave accrual, and retirement eligibility.
Mark has personally visited 22 MSC ships, meeting with mariners around the world to help them take control of their post-sea future. Now, he brings that expertise to CIVSail with a monthly column answering your most pressing retirement questions.
The Final Muster
Retirement Articles for CIVMARs
Breaking down LES line items, benefits, and retirement decisions in plain language.
October 31, 2025
Don't Let Your SCD Delay Your Retirement
Understand how Box #11 on your LES and Box #31 on your SF-50 affect your leave, TSP vesting, and pension eligibility — and what to do if they're wrong.
Read article
October 3, 2025
Cracking Box #19 — What It Means for Your Pension
What Box #19 on your LES is, why it matters, and how it connects to the FERS refund you may be eligible to claim.
Read article
August 4, 2025
The 5 Waypoints to CIVMAR Retirement
Break down your MSC career into manageable milestones. From Day 1 to 20 years, here's how to track your progress toward a secure federal retirement.
Read articleTestimonials
What Mariners Are Saying
"I contacted Mark when I was ready to retire and he was always there to answer questions. He not only helped with all the paperwork required to retire, but he also helped with getting my mutual fund set up. Even after having been retired for over 3 years Mark has always been available for questions and willing to assist. I just recently returned to MSC and Mark is there again to help and answer questions. The articles he has written for CIVSail.com are full of very useful information. I highly recommend reading them. He's not just a source to get through the massive amount of paperwork required but he has become a great friend."
Art Kingsbury
Dec 2025
"Mark guided me thru the whole process and did a great job. He will tell you ups and downs and explain everything needed to make decisions that you have to make, go now or wait later. He explained the money side of going early or waiting to collect at 65 or 67. Thru the whole process he was only a phone call away. I have recommended him to all my shipmates and I know he won't let them down. I am very thankful to Mark as I probably would still be waiting on OPM to process my paperwork."
Larry Baker
Dec 2025
"Mark Brown is currently helping me find out how much I owe for my FERS retirement payback. I left MSC twice before and cashed out my FERS. Not knowing I would come back years later as an Officer and now I have 18 years of federal service and if not for his help, that time would be lost when it comes time for my retirement. This Service is specialized to help us Mariners and there is no one else I have come across in almost 25 years in the industry that can explain this process better than Mark. Word of Advice: Please be sure to keep your SF-50s along your path in Government service to help yourself when you go to retire or when you leave and try to get another Gov job. You will need them and they are difficult to retrieve from the national archives. It's best to digitally keep copies of them. Time in life creeps up on all of us and next thing you know it'll be that time to retire."
Sassan
Dec 2025
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What Should Mark Cover Next?
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