Leave Planner

Service members on active duty accrue leave under 10 U.S.C. § 701 at the statutory rate of 2½ days per month of active service (30 days per year). Accrued leave is administered on the Leave and Earnings Statement (LES) and is used for both chargeable (ordinary) leave and non-chargeable leave categories authorized by statute and service regulations.

Leave administration and pay-affecting rules are detailed in the DoD Financial Management Regulation (FMR), Volume 7A, Chapter 35. Service-specific implementation is in branch regulations such as AFI 36-2671 (Air/Space Force) and SPFI 36-2672 (Space Force).

Under 37 U.S.C. § 501 and DoD FMR Vol. 7A, Chapter 35, a member separating or retiring may sell back accrued leave for pay at the member's current basic-pay rate. Career-lifetime sell-back is limited to 60 days. Sold-back days do not receive BAH or BAS.

Terminal leave — ordinary leave taken immediately before separation — is an alternative to sell-back that keeps the member in an active-duty pay status with all entitlements (basic pay, BAH, BAS, TRICARE, etc.) through the leave period.

SkillBridge is a DoD job-training program authorized under 10 U.S.C. § 1143(e) that allows service members in their last 180 days of service to participate in industry training, apprenticeship, or internship programs while remaining on active duty. Participation requires command approval and is governed by branch-specific policy (e.g., AFI 36-2671 for Air/Space Force).

Permissive TDY (PTDY) is non-chargeable time away from duty station authorized for specified purposes such as house-hunting before a PCS; it does not reduce the leave balance and has its own service-specific authorization rules.