thedrifter
04-23-07, 08:43 AM
New reward for combat overtime: more leave
Troops may also be able to sell back regular leave
By William H. McMichael - bmcmichael@militarytimes.com
Posted : April 30, 2007
Active and reserve troops will earn administrative leave for war-related deployments and mobilizations that break the Pentagon’s stated policy goals for time spent at and away from home, defense officials announced April 18.
Under the new program, active-duty troops will receive one day of extra administrative leave for each month or fraction of a month they are deployed for more than 12 months — either cumulatively or consecutively — during any 36-month period. For reservists, the leave kicks in when they are mobilized for more than 12 months in any 72-month period.
Two days of administrative leave will be granted for each month deployments exceed 18 months out of a 36-month period for active-duty troops and 18 months out of 72 months for mobilized reservists. Four days will be granted when active troops are deployed more than 24 out of 36 months and reservists are mobilized more than 24 out of 72 months.
Troops will be able to use the administrative leave in place of their regular leave, which they can sell back to the government under certain conditions. Currently, troops are limited to selling back no more than 60 days. The Pentagon will seek legislative changes to increase that limit, officials said April 19.
The new leave — “Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence” — would come on top of the regular leave that service members accrue at a rate of 2� days per month.
An April 18 memo to the service secretaries from David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, states that creditable deployments under the new policy for active-duty troops include those in Iraq or Afghanistan, or with theater units in nearby areas supporting forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. For reservists, creditable mobilizations are essentially any call-ups for federal service.
According to Chu’s memo, the program applies to deployments and mobilizations underway on, or commencing after, Jan. 19, 2007, the date of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ policy memo that laid out so-called “dwell time” ratios for active and reserve troops and directed the establishment of the new compensation program.
But the memo states that active -duty troops can compute creditable time for the new administrative leave back to Jan. 19, 2004, or the date that is 36 months prior to the member’s deployment, whichever is more recent. For reservists, creditable time includes periods of mobilization back to Oct. 7, 2001 — the start of the war in Afghanistan — or the date that is 72 months prior to the mobilization, whichever is more recent.
Chu said the service secretaries “may include other deployments or mobilizations” beyond those outlined in his memo if they choose to expand on the basic policy. The services could add other incentives, such as increasing special pays that haven’t been maxed out, or options for schools or future assignments, said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.
Chu told the services to report back to him on their plans no later than April 30.
Here’s an example of how the new policy would work: An active-duty member who deployed for 12 months on Feb. 1, 2007, and then re-deployed for 15 months on Nov. 1, 2008, ultimately would earn 33 days of administrative leave — one day per month for the first five months of the second deployment; two days per month for each of the next six months of the second deployment; and four days per month for the final four months of the second deployment.
At an April 18 news conference, Michael Dominguez, principal undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said the administrative leave program is “a signal” to service members that when the military asks them to go “beyond the boundaries ... [that] we’re thinking about you ... and acknowledge your service.”
The new program would not affect the current policy of paying service members $1,000 for each month they are involuntarily extended beyond 12 consecutive months in the war zones, and paying $300 to $1,000 per month to troops with critical skills who volunteer to extend their tours.
In crafting the new program, officials considered three options, Carr said: monetary, nonmonetary and administrative leave, technically referred to as administrative absence.
“It came down to respite,” Carr said, “because military leadership believed that the most important thing to address when we’re insisting on higher frequency ... was to allow respite.” Plus, he said, troops could save more of their regular leave and later use the sell-back option.
Details of the new leave concept were expected to be released in February, shortly after Gates’ Jan. 19 announcement. The long delay was due to what sources earlier said was intense debate over how to implement the policy.
Carr said the background talks did not involve concerns over the potential funding impact on service budgets, even though, he acknowledged, “The Army’s scared to death of running out of money this year.”
The new policy, Carr said, “is not going to be judged on its feasibility, only on its desirability, because it’s war-related. It’s going to bump other things downstream, but so be it.”
The proposal could also end up putting more money in some troops’ pockets.
Service members can be paid a lump sum for up to 60 days of unused accrued leave over the course of a career. Officers can sell back unused leave once, when they leave service; enlisted members can do so when they leave service or, if they re-enlist, at the end of each term of service.
The taxable payment is based on a member’s basic pay at the time and ranges in value from $100 to $250 per day, Carr said.
Carr said the Pentagon will ask Congress to modify the rule that caps at 60 days the amount of unused leave that a member can sell back. The change will help ensure that troops can actually use most or all of the regular leave they accrue, he said.
“There’s a point ... with leave accruals that we’ve got to protect the capacity either to preserve the leave, or to gain some benefit from it,” Carr said. “In other words, if you’re not going to use it ... then we’ve got to create some other alternative so that you gain benefit of it.
“As long as I have that,” Carr said, “then to the extent that I do accrue leave, and accrue it substantially, I’m going to attain value for me and my family, one way or the other.”
Moreover, the value of leave above whatever limit is agreed to would automatically be converted to cash and transferred to a member’s paycheck, Carr said.
By regulation, troops can carry no more than 60 days of accrued leave from one fiscal year to the next. But members who serve at least 120 consecutive days in areas that qualify them for hostile-fire or imminent-danger pay, which includes the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones, can carry over up to 120 days of leave at the end of the fiscal year.
Ellie
Troops may also be able to sell back regular leave
By William H. McMichael - bmcmichael@militarytimes.com
Posted : April 30, 2007
Active and reserve troops will earn administrative leave for war-related deployments and mobilizations that break the Pentagon’s stated policy goals for time spent at and away from home, defense officials announced April 18.
Under the new program, active-duty troops will receive one day of extra administrative leave for each month or fraction of a month they are deployed for more than 12 months — either cumulatively or consecutively — during any 36-month period. For reservists, the leave kicks in when they are mobilized for more than 12 months in any 72-month period.
Two days of administrative leave will be granted for each month deployments exceed 18 months out of a 36-month period for active-duty troops and 18 months out of 72 months for mobilized reservists. Four days will be granted when active troops are deployed more than 24 out of 36 months and reservists are mobilized more than 24 out of 72 months.
Troops will be able to use the administrative leave in place of their regular leave, which they can sell back to the government under certain conditions. Currently, troops are limited to selling back no more than 60 days. The Pentagon will seek legislative changes to increase that limit, officials said April 19.
The new leave — “Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence” — would come on top of the regular leave that service members accrue at a rate of 2� days per month.
An April 18 memo to the service secretaries from David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, states that creditable deployments under the new policy for active-duty troops include those in Iraq or Afghanistan, or with theater units in nearby areas supporting forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. For reservists, creditable mobilizations are essentially any call-ups for federal service.
According to Chu’s memo, the program applies to deployments and mobilizations underway on, or commencing after, Jan. 19, 2007, the date of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ policy memo that laid out so-called “dwell time” ratios for active and reserve troops and directed the establishment of the new compensation program.
But the memo states that active -duty troops can compute creditable time for the new administrative leave back to Jan. 19, 2004, or the date that is 36 months prior to the member’s deployment, whichever is more recent. For reservists, creditable time includes periods of mobilization back to Oct. 7, 2001 — the start of the war in Afghanistan — or the date that is 72 months prior to the mobilization, whichever is more recent.
Chu said the service secretaries “may include other deployments or mobilizations” beyond those outlined in his memo if they choose to expand on the basic policy. The services could add other incentives, such as increasing special pays that haven’t been maxed out, or options for schools or future assignments, said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.
Chu told the services to report back to him on their plans no later than April 30.
Here’s an example of how the new policy would work: An active-duty member who deployed for 12 months on Feb. 1, 2007, and then re-deployed for 15 months on Nov. 1, 2008, ultimately would earn 33 days of administrative leave — one day per month for the first five months of the second deployment; two days per month for each of the next six months of the second deployment; and four days per month for the final four months of the second deployment.
At an April 18 news conference, Michael Dominguez, principal undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said the administrative leave program is “a signal” to service members that when the military asks them to go “beyond the boundaries ... [that] we’re thinking about you ... and acknowledge your service.”
The new program would not affect the current policy of paying service members $1,000 for each month they are involuntarily extended beyond 12 consecutive months in the war zones, and paying $300 to $1,000 per month to troops with critical skills who volunteer to extend their tours.
In crafting the new program, officials considered three options, Carr said: monetary, nonmonetary and administrative leave, technically referred to as administrative absence.
“It came down to respite,” Carr said, “because military leadership believed that the most important thing to address when we’re insisting on higher frequency ... was to allow respite.” Plus, he said, troops could save more of their regular leave and later use the sell-back option.
Details of the new leave concept were expected to be released in February, shortly after Gates’ Jan. 19 announcement. The long delay was due to what sources earlier said was intense debate over how to implement the policy.
Carr said the background talks did not involve concerns over the potential funding impact on service budgets, even though, he acknowledged, “The Army’s scared to death of running out of money this year.”
The new policy, Carr said, “is not going to be judged on its feasibility, only on its desirability, because it’s war-related. It’s going to bump other things downstream, but so be it.”
The proposal could also end up putting more money in some troops’ pockets.
Service members can be paid a lump sum for up to 60 days of unused accrued leave over the course of a career. Officers can sell back unused leave once, when they leave service; enlisted members can do so when they leave service or, if they re-enlist, at the end of each term of service.
The taxable payment is based on a member’s basic pay at the time and ranges in value from $100 to $250 per day, Carr said.
Carr said the Pentagon will ask Congress to modify the rule that caps at 60 days the amount of unused leave that a member can sell back. The change will help ensure that troops can actually use most or all of the regular leave they accrue, he said.
“There’s a point ... with leave accruals that we’ve got to protect the capacity either to preserve the leave, or to gain some benefit from it,” Carr said. “In other words, if you’re not going to use it ... then we’ve got to create some other alternative so that you gain benefit of it.
“As long as I have that,” Carr said, “then to the extent that I do accrue leave, and accrue it substantially, I’m going to attain value for me and my family, one way or the other.”
Moreover, the value of leave above whatever limit is agreed to would automatically be converted to cash and transferred to a member’s paycheck, Carr said.
By regulation, troops can carry no more than 60 days of accrued leave from one fiscal year to the next. But members who serve at least 120 consecutive days in areas that qualify them for hostile-fire or imminent-danger pay, which includes the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones, can carry over up to 120 days of leave at the end of the fiscal year.
Ellie