I'm not sure I understand what the problem is. You are correct that the 30 days of leave equates to 3 weeks if the leave is used in a manner in which it overlaps with weekends. That is a pretty simple issue to solve. Start your leave on a Monday and/or end it on a Friday. I did that for 9 years. When I ETS'd, I took 60 days of terminal leave - collecting BAH and BAS for those two months even though I was already beginning to grow my beard.Originally Posted by Massengale
It is also worth pointing out how easily (and often) the leave process is abused. I knew Officers and NCOs who took weeks of leave and never had it charged against them. I was thought a jerk for raising this issue with the Battalion Commander - as though free leave were some kind of entitlement. This was not an issue isolated to our unit or our installation, as I saw it elsewhere and know of senior NCOs who arrived at the unit with the expectation that they only needed to become buddies with someone in the S1 shop and their leave would then be free.
Furthermore, passes are common and have been getting more common as the war has gone on. Oh no, POV inspection and some other minor administrative hoops? Geez, 30 minutes out of your life to take a few days off with full pay. That's rough. Ditto half days and three- and four-day weekends. Federal holidays are off. Small unit leaders often exercise discretion to just let a guy go home if something significant is occurring. A water leak, hotwater heater crapping the bed, sick child or spouse, car problem, or other unforeseen events often, if not usually, result in a guy leaving work early or taking a day off with no leave days incurred. One of my squad leaders used up all of his leave and went 10 days in the hole upon our return from one deployment because his mother was terminally ill. When he returned, his mother was on life support 300 miles away. I brought him into the battalion commander's office to try to obtain more leave. The BC took the old leave form (45 days of leave) ripped it up and said, "it looks like he's still got plenty of leave remaining." Find the me the civilian boss that can, and will, do that.
Then there is my personal favorite - attending to personal business while on duty. I cannot begin to describe the amount of pushback and indignation that I was up against when I started reigning in the amount of personal business that my Soldiers were conducting during duty hours. People were leaving during the day - or just taking the day off altogether - to get their license renewed, their registration renewed, to take motorcycle driving tests, etc, etc. When I ordered a stop to this, my NCOs reacted as though I was canceling Christmas (which, I guess I kind of was). I later learned that this was not just some phenomenon unique to that unit. It happens everywhere.
Okay, so 30 days equals 3 weeks. I have only scratched the surface of all of the intangibles that make the Army one of the most generous organizations on the planet when it comes to time off. Many of those intangibles are not sanctioned by the powers-that-be, but they are commonplace nonetheless and I suspect many power-that-be know about them. It would not surprise me if many of those powers-that-be partake of them. That may be a reason why more leave is not offered up.
But despite my different take on the issue, I do agree that the Army should not advertise the 30 days off. The Army is a service-oriented institution. The commercials and other promotional material pushes way too hard on the "what it's in in for me?" angle. I wish we pushed harder to emphasize the challenges, the demands, and high expectations. This may be a federal job, but it shouldn't be like the others.
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