(a) Any active and contributing member of the Teachers' Retirement System of Alabama who was a regular employee of a school operated by the Department of Defense of the United States of America and is now covered by the Teachers' Retirement System shall be eligible to receive credit for such service provided that the member of the Teachers' Retirement System claiming such credit shall have attained not less than 10 years of contributing membership service credit exclusive of military service credit under the Teachers' Retirement System, and provided further that such member performs and complies with the conditions prescribed in subsection (b).

(b) A member of the Teachers' Retirement System of Alabama eligible under subsection (a) may receive credit for employment rendered to a school operated by the Department of Defense of the United States of America as provided in subsection (a), provided that as a condition precedent to the receipt of such credit (i) such member shall contribute prior to the date of his or her retirement to the Teachers' Retirement System for each year of employment with a school operated by the Department of Defense of the United States of America the full actuarially determined cost for each year of service purchased as determined by the system's actuary; (ii) the employer for which such member was employed shall certify in writing to the Teachers' Retirement System the dates of the member's employment together with a statement certifying that such member was a regular employee of a school operated by the Department of Defense of the United States of America during such period of claimed service; (iii) the member shall claim, purchase, and receive credit for eligible service in increments of not less than one year unless such member's total balance of such service is less than one year in which event he or she shall claim and purchase credit for the entire period.

(c) Anything in this section to the contrary notwithstanding, a member of the Teachers' Retirement System shall not receive credit for such service where at the time of retirement he or she has credit or is entitled to any benefits whatsoever for the same service under any retirement or pension plan which is wholly or partly funded from public funds, provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall be construed to apply to participation in the federal Social Security program. In the event of disqualification of such service credit contributions made under this section by the member shall be refunded to him or her.

(d) Any year of service purchased under this section shall not be considered in determining the out-of-pocket premium amount charged to retirees under Section 16-25A-8.1. Also, any service purchased under this section shall not entitle a member to be eligible for benefits under the Public Education Employees' Health Insurance Plan any sooner than the member could have reached eligibility under the plan without the service purchased under this section.