# American Leave



## Jarnhamar (12 Aug 2004)

In Canada our soldiers, on a 6 month operational rotation, get  2 four day leave passes and one 3 week (approx) leave.

What do american soldiers get on a 6 month or 1 year tour overseas?
Are soldiers in iraq allowed to come home to visit or do they have to stay in country for the whole year or whatever it is?


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## Fruss (16 Aug 2004)

I know for sure that they are coming back for R&R while in the tour as a lot of them died when their Chinook crashed in Iraq about 4-6 months ago..  But besides that, I don't know nothing!!


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## Jarnhamar (16 Aug 2004)

> But besides that, I don't know nothing!!



Now if only others admitted to this my post count wouldn't be so high

 ;D


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## Matt_Fisher (17 Aug 2004)

Leave, on an operational tour in Iraq or Afghanistan?  :

In the 7 months I was in Iraq the only thing close to leave/R&R was one afternoon at Saddam's Palace in the Baghdad Green Zone where I got to go swimming in the pool and a day spent at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait at the end of our deployment where we went swimming again and got to use the recreation center.

For troops spending less than one year in theatre, there is no provisions for leave.  You are given block leave upon returning to the US.  

For troops on a one-year tour, you get to return to the US for a 2 week/10 day leave period.

It sucks and I'm very envious of the Canadian leave allowances, but that's the way it is in the US for forces deployed.


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## dutchie (17 Aug 2004)

Matt_Fisher said:
			
		

> Leave, on an operational tour in Iraq or Afghanistan?   :
> 
> For troops spending less than one year in theatre, there is no provisions for leave.   You are given block leave upon returning to the US.
> 
> For troops on a one-year tour, you get to return to the US for a 2 week/10 day leave period.



All I can say is....that really sucks! You'd think they would give them a couple of 1-2 week leave periods somewhere closeby and not too dangerous.

I guess we are pretty lucky with our HLTA's in Europe (or home, I suppose) for 3 weeks during a pretty sleepy Yugo tour.


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## Ex-Dragoon (21 Aug 2004)

So there is nothing like the 20; 25 and 30 days a year of annual leave we get?


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## ghazise (22 Aug 2004)

Every month you earn 2.5 days of leave, 30 days a year, the leave you earn while you are in a tax free zone, the days of leave accrued while in the tax free zone are tax free when you return and take leave, but if you acquire more that 60 ~ days at the end of that year you can loose leave days, on a one time basis you may sell back leave to the government.


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## Hawaii Mike (29 Aug 2004)

In the United States military, generals and admirals take leave whenever they like.   In recognition of the statuatory 30-days-per-year policy by which all federal employees are bound, most flag officers attend numerous official conferences in Miami, Las Vegas, Honolulu and Washington.   Colonels, Lt. Cols and Majors on obsolescent but still-existent corps, division and brigade staffs haul ass whenever the General is gone, so long as they take care to ensure that they are not espied by their General or his wife in the DV (formerly VIP) lounge at Ramstein AB awaiting free transport via AMC to Andrews or Dover.

Captains explain to their Lts the absence of the Colonel due to "tactical" reasons.

The Lieutenant receives the ten pieces of mail for his platoon from his overstuffed and plaisant battalion Sgt Maj or company 1st Sgt, just returned from 5 days' R&R at Bahrain or Singapore.   Notwithstanding the 500,000 parcels hopelessly backlogged in Dubai, Kuwait and Diego Garcia while nonplussed and woeful postal clerk reservists from 
Baltimore and Compton collect their combat pay and grudgingly examine the sad turns of events that took them so unfairly from their promising lives in the booming inner city economies of the mainland U.S.

The Lt issues the mail as his men redistribute their ammunition and MREs and while he proclaims to them the latest, breathtaking, news from home about Britney-Ashley-Jennifer and her amours du jour or amours des temps.   They neither quite remember, nor care, who is who and to whom or by whom what is being done, nor to what end.   They are one month into an eighteen-month deployment.   Who cares?   They are either long-service or short-service men, by choice.   There is no such official distinction in today's US Army.

The Lt. announces the current beauty contest between the army and the air farce over who has the cutest uniforms.   The Marines chuckle derisively, while the Army soldiers shrug and a very few, sincere air farce men bow their heads in shame.

Everyone wonders how a Purple Heart can be considered a valorous award.   They usually arrive in the wake of pain, bleeding and/or embarassment, if not death.  They also wonder, if they were to cower on the floorboards of their vehicles as their weapons jam from lack of basic maintenance in an ambush caused by near-criminal lack of leadership and if they were "captured," would they receive heroes' accolades and medals galore?  No, they say, we're infantrymen.  We at least know better than that.

An especially well-read grunt or cannon cocker or tread-head wonders why none of his generals have read about John Boyd and fourth-generation warfare and the OODA loop.   He ponders the existence of general staffs, DoD bureaux, and innumerable intelligence agencies who almost willfully ignore the tenets of modern warfare.   Has no one read Guderian?  Patton?  Slim?   Stirling? What about Boyd, Sun-tzu, Fall, Mao and Giap?

Finally this grunt, in anticipation of the lottery system that might give him a ten-day pass back home in the midst of his deployment (free air fare to Washington DC, the rest is on his own dime), reads an article that made it past the censors: "Air Farce General to Assume Pacific Command."   He decides then and there to (a) assiduously avoid all RPGs, IEDs and small arms fire coming his way for the next 17 months, and to; (b) study business or accounting when he goes back to university after his EAS.

He makes notes:

(1)   Purple Hearts are not cool and are oftimes awarded for quite stupid actions committed by ignorant or luckless people.   Especial are those received by idiot naval lieutenants, out to recreate a farcical (and wholly fabricated) JFK heroism tale, and who, after chucking an M67 into a pile of rice, forget to duck.   

PS:   The original JFK got his boat rammed and got several men killed on a wartime patrol.   Most officers are relieved, if not court-martialled, for that.   

PSS:   Poseur JFK II wrote and submitted his own after-action reports.   These formed the basis for subsequent medals awards.   Highly suspect from a guy who clearly was gunning to be a politician as quickly and neatly as he could, regardless of the brothers-in-arms he had to slander to get there.

(2)   When filming or videotaping oneself in "combat" in preparation for a political career, always: (a) do something humanitarian; (b) do something heroic; (c) be cool; (d) make damn sure everyone is onboard with your future political career aspirations; (e) be relevant.   (E) is obviously optional.

(3) Remember that reserve/guard service ca. 1970-2001 was completely about: "Sign here.   Show up when you like.   We don't care.   We're just filling in blanks.   Oh, yeah, flying jets is slightly more demanding and a bit more dangerous than, say, issuing press releases, even if they're being released from MACV."

Most reservists know this.

All active servicemen know all about who gets leave and who doesn't, especially in Mesopotamia.


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## Spc_Cameron (4 Sep 2004)

I got 15 days mid tour and 30 days block leave when I got back.. actually it wasn't really mid tour ... more like "near the end of your tour leave "


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## pbi (26 Sep 2004)

The US Army types here in Afgh seem to be, for the most part, serving for a year (or more--extensions are common but unpredictable, which must be a morale ass-kicker: it certainly would be for Canadians). During this one year period, I believe that the Army intends for them to take two weeks of leave. However, if and when they can take this leave seems to vary from person to person. I am not aware that there are any R&R arrangements here in Afgh: the US officers I work with don't even get a day off. IMHO, these personnel management policies are going to cause the US Army some problems in the attrition area.

The USMC, on the other hand, tries to keep tours here in Afgh to about six months. However, after that period the Marines do not necessarily go home-they may join a Marine unit on a six-month "float" somewhere. Cheers.


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