Section 215. Retirement of and pensions for certain veterans

1.   Any
  soldier, sailor or marine of the army or navy of the  United  States  in
  the   civil  war,  Spanish-American  war,  or  world  war  I,  honorably
  discharged from service, and any member of the organized militia of  the
  state  having  performed active service as such with his organization in
  aid of federal or civil authorities, for a period of not less  than  ten
  consecutive  days,  who  shall have been employed for a period of twenty
  years or more in the military or naval service of the state of New  York
  under  pay from funds raised as provided for in this chapter for the pay
  of such employees, may, upon reaching the age of sixty-four  years  upon
  his own request and the approval of the adjutant general, or shall, upon
  being  discharged  or released from such employment without fault on his
  part after reaching the age of fifty years after serving  as  aforesaid,
  or  upon  being incapacitated from performing the duties of his position
  after twenty years of such service, be retired from such employment with
  the approval of the adjutant general, and  thereafter  during  his  life
  there  shall  be  paid to him, in the same manner and by the same agency
  and from the same source that the compensation of  his  former  position
  was  customarily  paid to him, an annual sum equal in amount to one-half
  of the compensation paid to him in the last year of his employment.
    2.  The provisions of this section shall not apply in the case of  any
  person  who, on or after July first, nineteen hundred fifty-four, enters
  or re-enters military or naval service of the state under pay from funds
  raised as provided for in this  chapter.    For  the  purposes  of  this
  subdivision, a person who entered or re-entered such service before such
  date  shall  be  deemed  to continue therein during the time he performs
  military duty under a leave of absence therefor pursuant to section  two
  hundred forty-two or section two hundred forty-three of this chapter.