AFPC releases post-deployment respite guidance

  • Published
  • By MSgt James Brabenec, Air Force Personnel Center
  • AFPC
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  12/31/2007 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Beginning Jan. 19, 2007, eligible active-duty Airmen who deploy 12 or more months during a preceding 36-month period are entitled to administrative absence time off.

All active-duty, Guard and Reserve Airmen are eligible for this time off. Separate guidance for National Guard and Reserve personnel will be issued by the National Guard Bureau and Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command.

Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence, a Department of Defense program, provides up to four administrative absence days per month served. Airmen must have deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, or as part of certain theater units that conduct operations in either country but are not based there. Normally, these units are those in Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Manas, Kyrgyzstan.

Creditable time begins on the day Airmen arrive in Afghanistan or Iraq and continues through their departure date from the area of responsibility. No credit is authorized for deployed service earlier than Jan. 19, 2004.

Airmen who meet the eligibility requirement of 12 months, defined as 365 days, earn PDMRA as follows:
-- one day per month for total deployment time between 12-17 months;
-- two days per month for 18-23 deployed months; and
-- four days per month for 24 months or more of deployed time.

For example, an Airman who deployed 22 months would earn 16 absence days at one day each for months 12-17 and two days each for months 18-22.

Airmen who elect to use the absence time may depart the local area and combine it with leave. However, it cannot be combined with passes or post-deployment stand-down time. Additionally, absence time must be used within 12 months of return from deployment or before a permanent change of station or assignment. If Airmen fail to use the time during this stipulated period, it will be forfeited.

Airmen should request PDMRA on their Air Force Form 988, "Leave Request/Authorization" with Block 8 marked as permissive TDY with the reason annotated as PDMRA.

For more information, Airmen should contact their base military personnel element or the Air Force Contact Center at DSN 665-5000 or (800) 616-3775.