Permissive TDY: Eligibility, Day Caps, and Approval

Permissive temporary duty, usually called permissive TDY or PTDY, is commander-approved time away from your primary duties for specific semi-official purposes that doesn’t come out of your accrued leave. The government authorizes the absence but pays none of the travel costs. DoDI 1327.06 lists more than a dozen qualifying situations, from house hunting during a PCS to job searching before retirement or involuntary separation, and each carries its own day cap.¹

Who Can Use It

Any service member on active-duty orders of at least 30 days is eligible, regardless of branch or component. That threshold matters for Reserve and National Guard members: if your orders run shorter than 30 days, PTDY isn’t available to you under the DoD-wide instruction.¹

Beyond that floor, you have to meet the conditions of the specific category you’re requesting. House-hunting PTDY requires PCS orders. Transition PTDY requires being within 365 days of separation or retirement. There is no blanket good-standing test in the instruction, but commanders have broad discretion and can weigh anything relevant to the mission.

What PTDY Covers

Paragraph 4.4.b of DoDI 1327.06 sets out every authorized use. The categories most service members actually use fall into a few groups.

House Hunting During a PCS

You can receive up to 10 days of PTDY to find housing at a new duty station during a PCS. Two conditions apply: you need PCS orders to the gaining installation, and military privatized housing or government quarters must be either unavailable or not required to be occupied at that installation.¹

Local-area moves don’t qualify. Navy policy treats a move as local when both duty stations sit within the same city, when you’d keep commuting from your current residence, or when the commanding officer decides the locations are within reasonable commuting distance.²

Retirement and Transition

Service members approaching retirement or involuntary separation get their own categories with longer time limits. If you’re retiring from active duty, including medical retirements and recalled Reserve members with 20 or more years of accumulated active service, you can receive up to 30 days of transition PTDY for pre-separation job search and house hunting, whether stationed CONUS or OCONUS.¹

Members being involuntarily separated under honorable conditions receive up to 20 days if stationed within CONUS and up to 30 days if stationed overseas. CONUS members whose legal domicile is outside the continental United States may also qualify for up to 30 days if they plan to return to that domicile after separation.³ Under 10 U.S.C. 1149, the Secretary concerned “shall grant” an involuntarily separated member up to 10 days of PTDY for relocation activities unless it would interfere with military missions, and the statute also authorizes up to 30 days of excess leave for the same purpose.⁴

Attending DoD-sponsored Transition Assistance Program events is its own PTDY category for members within 365 days of separation or retirement. DoD SkillBridge, which places transitioning members in civilian job training and internships, also operates under PTDY authority.⁵

Professional, Athletic, and Legal Activities

PTDY covers attendance at professional meetings hosted by recognized non-federal technical, scientific, or professional organizations when the meeting relates to your military duties or professional background. It also covers military or professional development programs that enhance your value to the service, as long as the unit isn’t funding the travel. If the unit pays, it’s funded TDY, not permissive.¹

Competitive sporting events that are service-sponsored, DoD-sponsored, or approved by the service headquarters qualify, along with essential support roles for those events. Up to 10 days of administrative absence can be granted for support roles at the National or World Scout Jamboree. Jury duty and appearances as a subpoenaed witness in state or federal criminal proceedings of substantial public interest are covered rather than charged against leave.¹

Narrower categories exist too. Up to 3 days of PTDY can be granted to serve as the presiding official at an official military retirement ceremony, limited to one presiding official per ceremony. Service members sitting on the board of directors of a DoD credit union can receive PTDY for board meetings.¹

Day Caps at a Glance

House hunting during a PCS: up to 10 days
Retirement transition: up to 30 days
Involuntary separation, CONUS: up to 20 days
Involuntary separation, OCONUS: up to 30 days
Scout Jamboree support: up to 10 days
Retirement ceremony presiding official: up to 3 days

The authorized day count includes weekends and federal holidays. You can’t stack liberty weekends, special liberty, or holidays onto the activity to stretch it beyond the cap.³ Any extra days you need convert to ordinary chargeable leave deducted from your balance.

What the Government Won’t Pay For

“Permissive” means the time is authorized, not funded. You pay for transportation, lodging, meals, and every other expense out of pocket. Per diem is explicitly not authorized.⁶ Plan the trip as if you were spending your own money on a personal move, because you are.

Combining PTDY with Ordinary Leave

Commanders can authorize PTDY together with ordinary leave, and many service members use this to extend a transition or PCS trip. Air Force policy treats the combined absence as a single leave period but requires consecutive dates. If ordinary leave follows PTDY, its start date must be the calendar day after PTDY ends; if leave comes first, it must end the day before PTDY begins.⁷

One useful side effect: when ordinary leave is attached to PTDY, TDY, or parental leave, the leave start and stop locations don’t have to be in the local area. That flexibility helps when you’re already traveling to a distant PCS destination for house hunting and want to visit family on the way back.⁷

How to Request PTDY

Start by identifying the specific paragraph of DoDI 1327.06 that authorizes your absence. That paragraph number goes on the request, and getting it wrong is one of the fastest ways to have it kicked back. You’ll also need exact dates, destination addresses, and a clear description of the activity.

Each branch has its own system:

Army soldiers submit through the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army (IPPS-A), which has replaced the legacy DA Form 31 for electronic absence requests.⁸
Navy members use NAVCOMPT Form 3065 (Leave Request/Authorization).
Air Force and Space Force members submit through LeaveWeb, with a separate entry or DAF Form 988 when combining PTDY with ordinary leave.⁷
Marines follow branch-specific procedures using Marine Online (MOL) or unit-level processes.

Whatever the system, the leave or absence code has to be right. An incorrect code can result in the days being charged as ordinary leave instead of recorded as non-chargeable PTDY. Once submitted, the request routes through your chain of command to the unit commander. Keep a copy of the approved request accessible during travel.

If Your Commander Says No

Commanders have wide discretion. Under Air Force policy, a unit commander can deny a PTDY request without referring it higher, and there’s no regulatory requirement to give a written reason.⁷ Other branches take a similar view: PTDY is an authorized benefit, but granting it is a command call weighed against operational needs.

Involuntary separation is the main exception. Because 10 U.S.C. 1149 says the Secretary “shall grant” the PTDY needed for relocation activities, a commander denying it needs a documented interference with military missions.⁴ Retirement PTDY doesn’t carry the same statutory mandate but is well-established DoD policy.

If a denial seems to conflict with policy, the formal route is an exception-to-policy request through your chain of command. In practice, start with a conversation with your first-line supervisor or first sergeant to find out whether the issue is timing, documentation, or a genuine mission conflict that may resolve in a few weeks.

While You’re Away and When You Return

You remain in a duty status during PTDY, so TRICARE coverage continues; TRICARE covers you while traveling for business or during a move.⁹ Handle routine care before you leave. Routine care may not be authorized while you’re away from your duty station, and if you need emergency treatment on the road, you may have to pay up front and file for reimbursement.

Many commands require check-in steps at the destination, especially for house-hunting and transition PTDY. That might mean stopping at a base housing office or transition center to get documentation signed. Skipping verification can result in the absence being reclassified as chargeable leave. When the PTDY period ends, log back in through your command’s check-in process. If your return is delayed for any reason, contact your chain of command right away; unexcused time beyond the approved period turns into an unauthorized absence problem quickly.

1
Department of Defense. DoDI 1327.06 – Military Leave, Liberty, and Administrative Absence
2
MyNavyHR. MILPERSMAN 1320-210 Permissive Temporary Duty (PTDY) for House Hunting
3
MyNavyHR. MILPERSMAN 1320-220 Permissive Temporary Duty (PTDY) Authorization for Job/House Hunting
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1149 – Excess Leave and Permissive Temporary Duty
5
Department of Defense. Career Skills Program Personnel Services Delivery Guide
6
Defense Travel Management Office. Joint Travel Regulations – Section: 020315 Other Circumstances Impacting a Travelers Per Diem
7
Department of the Air Force. DAFI 36-3003 Military Leave Program
8
Department of Defense. 1st Infantry Division IPPS-A Soldiers Guide
9
TRICARE. Getting Care When Traveling