The confounding factor here is retroactive membership in two full time federal plans. That means each elapsed year in two plans counts as two years against the 35 year limit.
So, for example:
Age 17: Enrolled in the Res F and a member, in the CFSA part I.1 plan, for four years (while in University).
Age 21: Joined the federal PS at that point, becoming a member of the PSSA, while continuing in the Res F, for six years.
Age 27: Join the Reg F and automagically retroactively enrolled in the CFSA part I plan, eligible to top up previous part I.1 service to 100% value.
In this instance, if no other actions are taken:
Age 46: Will have original 4 years in Res F (pensionable service) plus 6 years (PSSA) plus 6 years (Res F parallel to PSSA) plus 19 years (Reg F) pensionable service, for a total of 35 Years - 29 under CFSA part I, 6 under PSSA.
The 29 years under CFSA part I will give a benefit of: (21 years Reg F +(days class B and C + (1.4* days class A))/365) * 2% (assuming full buyback of part I.1 service, otherwise that gets pro-rated) of the average of the best 5 years of salary when in the CAF.
The 6 years under PSSA will give a benefit of 6 * 2% = 12% of the average of the best 5 years of salary when in the PS. Note that this means any potential promotions which could have but did not occur will not be considered; any inflationary increases over time will not be considered; and there will be no ability to draw without penalty before age 65 (age 60 for those in the PSSA prior to the last round of changes). In other words - at age 65, pa rates of 40 years before will determine the initial amount (adjusted for indexing subsequently).
It is not permitted to have the same day counted twice under a single plan, so efforts to surrender the PSSA amount to CFSA may be problematic. It's possible that the optimal solution would be to take a transfer value for the PSSA time, as once you take a TV that time "disappears" so to speak from you pensionable service. However, every situation is different; the rules are unfortunately opaque and incomplete; and it is difficult to get a solid advisor on the phone to discuss these issues. When I went to a CAF run lunch and learn about pensions and asked about being a dual contributor to CFSA Part I and PSSA, the (civilian) pension expert from DPSP said "we don't talk about that".
There are other issues that are not resolved (I mean, the legislation was amended in 1999, the current rules largely came into force in 2007, so it's not like there hasn't been time to fix things). For example, a CAF member who wishes to surrender a CFSA part I pension to the PSSA and RCMPSA who, in their paid service has any paid class A service - no regulations in place to permit that transfer.
