AR 600-8-10 is the Army regulation that governs every form of authorized absence a soldier can take, from a Friday-afternoon pass to terminal leave before separation. It sets the accrual rate, defines which absences count against your balance, tells commanders what they can approve, and spells out what happens if you don’t come back on time. It applies to active duty soldiers and to National Guard and Reserve members serving under Title 10 or Title 32 orders.
Who It Covers and What It Governs
The regulation reaches active component soldiers of every rank and branch, along with Guard and Reserve members on full-time duty of more than 29 days under Title 32. It covers ordinary leave, emergency leave, environmental morale leave, convalescent leave, parental leave, rest and recuperation leave, regular and special passes, permissive TDY, recalls, and the sell-back of unused days at separation. Commanders use it to weigh unit readiness against a soldier’s need for time off, and the details are more technical than most soldiers realize.
Leave Accrual and the 60-Day Cap
You earn 2.5 calendar days of leave for every month of active service, which comes out to 30 days across the fiscal year. The rate is set by federal statute and doesn’t change with rank or branch. Time spent AWOL, in confinement after a court-martial, or absent over leave does not accrue.
The Army’s fiscal year closes on September 30. Any balance above 60 days on that date is forfeited. There is no special notation on your records when this happens; the excess simply drops off your Leave and Earnings Statement. Stacking leave year after year without taking any is the most common way soldiers lose days.
Special Leave Accrual After a Qualifying Deployment
Soldiers who serve at least 120 continuous days in a hostile fire or imminent danger pay area qualify for Special Leave Accrual, which raises the year-end ceiling from 60 to 90 days. You can hold onto up to 30 protected days above the normal cap.
Those extra days expire. You have two fiscal years after the end of the qualifying deployment to use them. To find your exact expiration date, look at the Remarks section of your LES for a line reading “PROTECTED SPECIAL LEAVE ACCRUAL BALANCE” followed by a day count and a date. Miss that window and the protected days are forfeited the same way any other excess leave would be.
How Days Are Counted
The rules for the first and last day of a leave period catch soldiers and S1 clerks alike. By default, both the departure day and the return day are chargeable. The exceptions:
- Your departure day is not charged if it falls on a regularly scheduled duty day and you work more than half the duty day before leaving. Leave earlier than the halfway point and the day is charged.
- Your return day is not charged if you come back on a non-duty day, a federal holiday, or a duty day where you work more than half the day.
- Every day in between counts, including weekends and holidays that fall inside the leave period.
A weekend sandwiched inside a two-week leave is not free. It’s charged like any other day.
Chargeable Leave Categories
Ordinary Leave
Ordinary leave is standard vacation time drawn from your accrued balance. Approval is subject to mission requirements, and your commander can deny or reschedule a request based on operational tempo. There is no entitlement to any specific date.
Emergency Leave
Emergency leave still comes out of your balance, but it gets priority when the reason is a death, life-threatening illness, or comparable crisis involving an immediate family member. One widespread misconception: the American Red Cross does not have to verify the emergency before a commander can approve the leave. Commanders can act on whatever information they have, and Red Cross verification is only recommended when there is reason to question the request.
For soldiers on permanent duty overseas with command-sponsored dependents, government-funded transportation may cover the trip home. That typically means a round-trip ticket to the nearest CONUS international airport, airline booking fees, and a first checked bag. Per diem, meals, parking, and local ground transportation are not reimbursable. The regulation prohibits denying emergency leave solely because travel funds are unavailable.
Environmental Morale Leave
Soldiers assigned to certain remote or austere overseas duty stations can use Environmental Morale Leave to travel to a more desirable location. EML is chargeable, including travel days. Eligibility depends on the installation’s designation based on isolation, limited recreation, unhealthy conditions, or extreme climate. Soldiers at qualifying locations are generally limited to two EML trips per year and cannot take one within six months of the start or end of their tour.
Non-Chargeable Leave
Several categories of authorized absence do not touch your accrued balance. Soldiers sometimes underuse them because they don’t know they exist.
Convalescent Leave
Convalescent leave covers recovery after illness, injury, or surgery when a military medical provider determines that rest cannot happen in the unit environment. The cap is 30 days per period of hospitalization; anything beyond that requires approval at the O-5 level in coordination with the supporting medical treatment facility. Your commander remains the final approving authority for the duration medical staff recommend.
Parental Leave
The Military Parental Leave Program gives 12 weeks of non-chargeable leave to both birth and non-birth parents, including adoptive parents and those who become parents through surrogacy. Birth parents also receive up to six weeks of maternity convalescent leave before the 12-week clock starts, so the total can reach 18 weeks. Any extension beyond six weeks of maternity convalescent leave requires a written recommendation from a medical provider for a diagnosed condition.
All 12 weeks must be used within one year of the child’s birth or adoption. You can take them all at once or in increments, and ordinary leave can be attached to either end. Soldiers approaching retirement can combine parental leave with terminal leave, since terminal leave is classified as ordinary chargeable leave. There is no required order for stacking the two.
Rest and Recuperation Leave
Soldiers deployed to designated combat zones where dependents are not allowed and travel is restricted may qualify for up to 15 days of non-chargeable rest and recuperation leave. The duty must be in a hostile fire area, conditions must be considered extremely arduous, and the command must anticipate continuing combat operations. R&R is separate from Special Leave Accrual.
Passes and the Mileage-Radius Myth
A pass is a short absence that is never charged against your balance. Regular passes normally run from end of duty Friday to start of duty Monday. Special passes extend to three or four days and are typically granted around holidays or for exceptional performance. No pass may exceed four days.
AR 600-8-10 does not set a mileage radius for passes. The regulation lets commanders establish their own distance or travel-time restrictions based on local safety and recall requirements. The “250-mile radius” you may have heard is a local policy, not an Army-wide rule. Check your installation or unit pass policy for the number that actually applies to you.
Requesting Leave Through IPPS-A
The Integrated Personnel and Pay System (IPPS-A) has replaced the paper DA Form 31 with an electronic absence request. Submitting through IPPS-A routes your request to your supervisor for a recommendation and then to the approving authority, usually your company commander. Once approved, the system generates a unique control number. That number is your official authorization to depart.
Every request needs exact start and end dates, total days, a leave address, and an emergency contact phone number. Convalescent leave requires a medical memo or signed provider statement detailing the recovery need. Getting the leave type code right matters, because it determines whether finance treats the absence as chargeable or non-chargeable.
Recalls From Leave
Your commander can recall you from approved leave for military necessity, and that authority can be delegated. The unit will try to reach you at the leave address and follow up by email. If you are recalled within 72 hours of starting leave and your return travel time is reasonable, the entire leave charge is voided as though you never departed. If the notification comes within 72 hours but the travel back is excessive, the full absence still counts as leave.
When a recall happens, battalion S1 coordinates with the Military Personnel Division to determine whether travel-reimbursement orders are needed. If you are allowed to resume leave after the recall, the unit issues a new DA Form 31, or its electronic equivalent, for the remaining period.
Terminal Leave, Sell-Back, and Permissive TDY
Soldiers approaching separation or retirement with a positive balance have three options: take the leave before transitioning, sell it back for cash, or take terminal leave. Terminal leave works like ordinary leave, except you don’t report back to your duty station afterward. Full pay and allowances continue through your leave end date, and separation takes effect at that point.
Selling back leave means a lump-sum payment at your base pay rate divided by 30, with no special pay or allowances. The lifetime cap is 60 days across your entire military career, not 60 days per separation. Enlisted soldiers can sell back leave on reenlistment or on separation with an honorable discharge. Officers can only sell back leave when separating under honorable conditions. The lump-sum payment is subject to 22 percent federal income tax withholding, plus any applicable state tax.
Permissive TDY for Transition
Retiring soldiers and those being involuntarily separated under honorable conditions may receive Permissive Temporary Duty for house hunting, job searching, and relocation tasks. This time is non-chargeable. Involuntary separatees can receive up to 10 days of PTDY. Soldiers separating at the end of a normal enlistment or obligated service period are not eligible for transition PTDY.
What Happens If You Overstay
Failing to return on time is not an administrative issue. Under UCMJ Article 86, absence without authority carries consequences that scale with the length and circumstances of the absence. A short overstay can lead to non-judicial punishment under Article 15, which may include reduction in rank, restriction, forfeiture of pay, or extra duty. Longer unauthorized absences can result in court-martial, confinement, and a punitive discharge. Every day of unauthorized absence also fails to accrue, shrinking your future balance on top of whatever punishment follows.