Military Leave: What It Is and How It Works

As part of the military pay and benefits package, military service members earn 30 days of paid leave per year. You start at zero and for every month of military service, 2.5 days of leave get added to your leave account. It doesn’t stop, but the most you can carry over from one fiscal year to the next fiscal year is 60 days, except in certain, very limited situations where you can carry over more.

Reserve component members, including National Guard, also accrue leave at the rate of 2.5 days for each month that they are on active-duty orders. Reserve components have some special rules for how and when they can use their leave.

Service members are expected to use leave for any workday that they will not be available for work, as required by their command. They are also expected to use leave for any day that they leave the vicinity of their duty station, as defined by their command.

Summary

Time away from duties and training is critical for the continued well-being of Soldiers. The Army provides a number of benefits to provide Soldiers opportunities for time away from their jobs.

Eligibility

Members of the Army Reserve serving on active duty or initial active duty for training, or active duty training for a period of 30 or more consecutive days for which they are entitled to pay, are eligible to participate in the various leave programs.

COVID-19 special leave accrual update

The Defense Department recognizes that the COVID-19 national emergency has significantly limited service members’ ability to take leave. The department also recognizes that leave is vital to health and welfare. That’s why former Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Matthew Donovan signed a department-wide authorization on April 16, 2020, for service members to accrue and retain an additional leave balance of up to 120 days. Members who performed active service from March 11, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2020, could accrue leave up to 120 days and retain unused leave until Sept. 30, 2023.

When can you take leave

Service members may request leave at any time. Approval will be at the discretion of the command, based upon a wide variety of factors including operational requirements.

Some commands may have specified times when all or portions of the command can take leave at the same time. This is sometimes referred to as “block leave” and may happen before or after a deployment or during a holiday period. Commonly, block leave time is allowed during the summer and Christmas holidays, and before and after deployments.

Benefit Highlights

The following sections summarize various types of absence available for active duty Soldiers. As with any job, mission requirements, duty assignment or training requirements may require Soldiers to work on certain holidays and weekends. These requirements may also impact the scheduling of annual leave.