Two weeks of leave in conjunction with family member’s death
Active-duty troops can take up to two weeks of leave, nonchargeable, in case of death of their spouse or their child. Those with over 30 days of leave would get the normal leave. However, if their leave would result in their dipping below 30 days in the books, the balance would be nonchargeable. The service members would still have 30 days of leave when they return. Service members who submit a leave request under this scenario, but who have less than 30 days, would be able to use up to 14 days of nonchargeable leave.
From the Air Force Times:
“The loss of a spouse or child has detrimental effects on a member’s ability to perform assigned duties,” the memo reads, adding that “a member who experiences such a loss will be allowed up to 14 days of leave to be used in connection with the death of a spouse or child.”
The law created a new, non-chargeable type of leave for bereavement, allowing troops with fewer than 30 days of accrued leave to take time off to grieve without eating up their vacation days.
In practice, if a service member with more than 30 days of chargeable leave applies for up to two consecutive weeks off following the death of a spouse or child, they will use their vacation days until that bank hits 30. After that, the remaining days can be taken as non-chargeable bereavement leave.
For service members with fewer than 30 days in their leave bank, they can take the full 14 days of non-chargeable leave.
The Air Force Times provides the balance of the story here.
Category: Military issues
Makes sense to me.
When I was at Ft. Bliss last, Beaumont was a slaughter house. Literally 3 spouses died on my street in 2.years. One died from a stomach staple surgery infection, back when they did them there. One died from retained placenta leaving a new dad a widow and one died from a cancer that they failed to catch after numerous visits.
I don’t know if things have gotten any better since then but I recall the great difference between command environments leading to a huge difference in how the surviving soldiers were treated.
I was at Bliss 90-92 … WBAMC wasn’t too bad during my stretch (didn’t hear any horror stories) … a friend of mine who had ets’d and stayed in El Paso as a paramedic said that most of his calls (especially involving desperate wannabe Dependabottomas’s) the patient would request to be taken to Beaumont instead of Thompson
I spent the summer of ’92 at Beaumont being treated for testicular cancer, the urology department was top notch. Got a stern warning from my doc though:
MAJ T: “SGT D, I see you’re spending a lot of time with SPD C. I know for a fact she likes to party in Juarez, as I spend a lot of time there myself. If I see your immunocompromised ass in Mexico, you will never have to worry about testicular cancer again, do you understand me?”
My med board went as follows:
COL M: “Son, I can do this either way. Do you want to stay in, or get out?”
SGT D: “I want to stay, Sir”.
COL M: “MEDBOARD completed, you return to duty on monday.”
Was the early 2000s. Don’t know how things fell apart but people were terrified to go the hospital.
I’m good with this one. In some cases, 2 weeks may not be enough. Depends on how well the command(s) work with the SM. Especially with the loss of a spouse when there are children left to care for and the whole home structure now in upheaval. If I lost a child,,,, I’d be non functional for a long time. Probably end of the career. Can’t imagine living through either one.
On two separate occasions, I took leave for funerals (14 days each time) and wasn’t charged. Someone at S1 (I have no idea who) was either sloppy or looking after me. I didn’t question it.
Nice that there is an official policy for these cases now. Back yonder it was handled on a case by case basis. Saw everything from a few days up to 30.
Glad to hear this! Kanuckistan has had ‘bereavement leave ‘ for as long as I can remember.
I sure was appreciative of it when my WW2 RAF vet grandfather died after I had used up all my annual.
I was surprised that it was approved for a grandparent, since it is usually reserved for immediate family.
I had a great CO then. If you weren’t a problem child, she would bend over backwards for her troops.
Things like this do more for recruiting and retention than Woke virtue signaling.