"Anybody aged over 40 who has served for at least 18 years gets the right to claim an immediate pension …"
Of course, with Sgt Anderson being 35, he wouldn't be getting his immediate pension if he was given an extra 3 years service., let alone 3 days !!!!
That statement about 40/18 is a red herring as it refers to AFPS05 and even then only to people who see out their engagements, not people terminated on redundancy. It's highly likely that the Sgt was on AFPS75, and under the redundancy terms for '75 if you did 18 years service you qualified for an IP. I know numerous people who were made redundant within 6 months of that 18 year point.