AF Form 601 is the Air Force Reserve Component request that Reserve and Air National Guard members submit to get authorization for a period of active duty training. Once it clears the approval chain, it produces the military orders that put you on duty status and unlock pay, allowances, and insurance benefits for the tour. Without those approved orders in hand, you are not on duty, no matter what anyone told you verbally.
Because federal law requires most Selected Reserve members to complete at least 14 days of active duty training a year, nearly every drilling reservist runs this process at least once annually.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 10147 – Ready Reserve; Members Not Assigned to, or Participating Satisfactorily In, Units
Which Type of Duty You Are Requesting
Requests fall into three categories, each funded and managed differently. Picking the wrong one delays the whole package, so sort this out before you type anything.
- Annual Training (AT). The yearly active duty requirement for Selected Reserve members. Federal statute sets it at not less than 14 days per year, exclusive of travel time. The Air Force Reserve Command glossary describes AT as “12 or 14 days” depending on the assignment. Missing AT without an approved substitution or excuse counts against your participation record.2Air Force Reserve Command. Glossary of Military and Reserve Terminology
- Active Duty for Training (ADT). Additional training days beyond AT, used when you need extra time to reach or maintain proficiency in your Air Force Specialty Code. Think technical school, a qualification course, or hands-on work that the regular drill weekend cannot fit.
- Special Tours. A catch-all for duty that does not fit AT or ADT. This covers school tours, Military Personnel Appropriation (MPA) man-days, and Active Duty for Operational Support (ADOS) tours. Each has its own funding stream and approval chain, and the appropriation code you enter on the form has to match the type of duty or the package bounces back.
Who Can Submit One
The form is available to Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members in satisfactory participation status. That status has a definition. Under AFI 36-2254, a unit member who accumulates nine or more unexcused absences from Inactive Duty Training in a 12-month period is classified as an unsatisfactory participant. Individual Mobilization Augmentees (IMAs), who are only required to perform 24 IDT periods per year, hit that threshold at just four unexcused absences.3Department of the Air Force. AFI 36-2254 Volume 1 – Reserve Personnel Participation Unsatisfactory participants face administrative action and lose priority for training slots.
Beyond that, three other gates have to be open. A genuine training requirement tied to your position or specialty has to exist. The duty needs a confirmed funding source, either Reserve Personnel Appropriation (RPA) or MPA, depending on the tour type. And you need current medical and dental readiness, typically shown on an Individual Medical Readiness printout. Miss any of these and the form stalls somewhere in the chain.
The 1,825-Day Sanctuary Threshold
This is where reservists with heavy tour histories get caught, sometimes with career-altering consequences. If your cumulative active duty service reaches 1,825 days within the previous 2,190 days, roughly five out of six years, you need a specific waiver before going on additional MPA or RPA orders.4Headquarters RIO. MPA
The reason is sanctuary protection under federal law: a reserve member on active duty who is within two years of qualifying for retirement pay generally cannot be involuntarily separated before reaching that eligibility.5U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Officer Sanctuary Program The military wants to avoid accidentally creating a retention obligation, so approval authority for members near this line goes way up. For orders under 180 days, the Secretary concerned may require you to waive sanctuary protections as a condition of the orders.
If you have been tour-heavy, count your days before submitting the next AF Form 601. Your unit’s orders technician can help you calculate where you stand.
Filling Out and Submitting the Form
Paper submissions are largely gone. As of June 2021, Headquarters RIO transitioned Individual Reservist detachments to the myFSS orders system for requesting orders.6Headquarters RIO. AROWS-R Information Some AFRC units still work through the Air Force Reserve Orders Writing System (AROWS-R) depending on assignment type. Check with your unit training manager or IMA administrator to confirm which platform applies to you.
The information required is the same either way. The personal data section asks for your grade, name, Social Security Number, security clearance level, and unit of assignment. Errors here cascade into the resulting orders and can hold up pay for weeks after the tour ends.
Training Details and Justification
Enter the inclusive dates and total duration of the tour, the name and location of the gaining command or training site, and the appropriation code funding the duty. For an ADT tour, the justification should explain how the training directly supports proficiency in your specialty. For MPA tours, focus the justification on the operational mission you will support. Vague lines like “maintain readiness” are the fastest route to a kicked-back package. Name the skill, mission, or qualification.
Supporting Documents
Gather what your unit requires before submitting. A standard package usually includes your Individual Medical Readiness printout showing current medical and dental status. For school tours, you need a Training Line Number or formal school quota, sometimes called a RIP report, proving a slot has been reserved for you. Without that quota confirmation, the approving authority has nothing concrete to authorize.
The form carries signature blocks for you and your immediate supervisor or Unit Reserve Coordinator. The supervisor’s signature certifies that the training is necessary and that releasing you during that period is operationally feasible for the unit.
Approval Chain and Timing
After you and your supervisor sign, the package routes to your unit training manager or IMA administrator, who checks it for completeness and regulatory compliance. From there it goes to the Certifying Official, usually a commander or someone with delegated authority, who verifies that the justification holds up and that funding is actually available. Only then does it reach the final Approval Authority. Approval generates formal military orders, which are the legal document authorizing your active duty and every entitlement that comes with it.
Timing varies. A straightforward AT request with confirmed funding may clear in a few weeks. MPA or ADOS tours that require higher-level funding approval, or a 1,825-day waiver, can take months. A common mistake is waiting until a few weeks before the tour and then scrambling when the package hits a bottleneck. Submit early.
What Approved Orders Get You
Approved orders entitle you to basic pay at your grade and years of service, plus allowances that depend on the length and type of tour.
Housing Allowance
The housing benefit depends on whether your orders run more or less than 30 days. Reservists on active duty for 30 days or fewer receive BAH Reserve Component/Transit (BAH RC/T), a flat, non-locality rate based on pay grade.7Military Compensation. Types of BAH For 2026, BAH RC/T for an E-5 without dependents is $1,052.70 per month; with dependents, $1,403.70. These rates are noticeably lower than the locality-based BAH that active duty members and reservists on longer orders receive. If your orders exceed 30 consecutive days, you shift to the full locality-based BAH rate for your duty station or home zip code, which can run substantially higher depending on where you live.
Basic Allowance for Subsistence
You receive BAS during active duty training to offset food costs. The rate is set annually by the Department of Defense and differs between enlisted members and officers. If the government provides meals at your training location, your BAS may be reduced or eliminated through a meal deduction.
SGLI
Ready Reserve members assigned to a unit and scheduled to perform at least 12 inactive training periods per year are eligible for full-time SGLI coverage up to $500,000, in $50,000 increments.8U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI) Coverage applies during training with no separate enrollment when you go on orders. If you previously declined or reduced coverage, that election carries through, so review it before your tour.
Retirement Points
Each active duty training day earns one retirement point. You need at least 50 points in your retirement/retention year for it to count as a creditable year toward reserve retirement.9Military Compensation. Reserve Retirement Membership alone earns 15 points per year, so you need 35 more from drills, active duty, or correspondence courses. A 14-day AT tour gets you nearly halfway there in one shot.
After the Tour
Two things need attention when the training period ends. File a DD Form 1351-2, the standard military travel voucher, to claim reimbursement for travel expenses incurred during the tour. The form’s stated purpose is to compute reimbursements for expenses incident to official government travel.10Defense Support Services Center. DD Form 1351-2 – Travel Voucher or Subvoucher If you drove, mileage reimbursement typically follows the rate in the Joint Travel Regulations.
Then verify that the tour posted correctly to your records. Each day earns a point, and an improperly documented tour means lost points that take months to recover. Your unit’s Reserve Pay Office handles pay entitlements, but confirming that your points posted is on you.11Headquarters RIO. Participation Requirements
Your Civilian Job While You Are Gone
If you hold a civilian job, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act requires that you give your employer advance notice, written or verbal, before departing for military service.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 4312 – Reemployment Rights of Persons Who Serve in the Uniformed Services The notice can also come from an officer in your branch. The only exceptions are military necessity or circumstances that make notice unreasonable.
USERRA protections generally apply as long as your cumulative military service causing absence from that employer does not exceed five years, but the exemptions from that count are broad. Required training for reservists and Guard members, meaning the annual training and monthly drills mandated by statute, does not count toward the five-year limit at all.13U.S. Department of Labor. USERRA Pocket Guide Routine AT and ADT tours authorized through AF Form 601 almost never threaten your reemployment rights.
When you return, your employer must restore you to the position you would have held with reasonable certainty had you remained continuously employed, or to a position of equivalent seniority, status, and pay. Your approved orders document the service period, which is one more reason to keep copies of everything generated from your AF Form 601 package.
Fixing Errors in Orders or Pay
Orders get written with wrong dates. Pay gets miscalculated. Tours fail to post. For routine mistakes, start with the orders technician or Reserve Pay Office that processed the package.
For problems that cannot be resolved through normal channels, whether a denied correction, missing active duty credit, or a pay dispute that has gone unresolved, you can file a DD Form 149 with the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records through the Air Force Review Boards Agency portal.14U.S. Department of War. Request Correction of Military Records The application requires evidence of the error or injustice, so keep your original AF Form 601, the resulting orders, leave and earnings statements from the tour, and any correspondence about the dispute.