July 2,
2008: The U.S. Department of Defense has
finally done something to prevent troops from losing their leave time because
they were in combat. This arises because, while U.S. military personnel are
given 30 days of vacation ("leave" in milspeak) a year, if they don't have a
chance to take off (because they are in combat, or some other vital
assignment), they can only accrue 60 days before they lose it. Actually, troops
would get paid (at their pay rate) for the untaken vacation time (at the end of
their current contract). But it's not the same as getting some down time when
you really need it. That's really a case of "no good deed goes unpunished." Not
only were the most overworked (and often most valuable) troops not able to take
vacations for a long time, they were then penalized by losing vacation time.
The new
rule allows overworked troops to accrue up to 120 days of leave, before they
start to risk losing it. Moreover, if accrued days go over 120, up to 30 more
days can be cashed in later in some circumstances (as long as the owner is
still in the service). The military ran the numbers and found that no one
(well, very few) troops accrue a hundred days. This extension is only available
to those spending time in a combat zone. Basically, what the military wants to
do is avoid screwing those troops who go the extra mile, and take no leave for
years on end. The brass also want to avoid appearing to reward such sacrifice
by screwing the trooper out of their unused leave time.
