(a) Regular Commissioned Officers.—Any regular commissioned officer, except a commissioned warrant officer, serving in a grade below rear admiral (lower half) shall be retired on the first day of the month following the month in which the officer becomes 62 years of age.

(b) Flag-Officer Grades.—(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), any regular commissioned officer serving in a grade of rear admiral (lower half) or above shall be retired on the first day of the month following the month in which the officer becomes 64 years of age.

(2) The retirement of an officer under paragraph (1) may be deferred—

(A) by the President, but such a deferment may not extend beyond the first day of the month following the month in which the officer becomes 68 years of age; or

(B) by the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, but such a deferment may not extend beyond the first day of the month following the month in which the officer becomes 66 years of age.