Can you be forced to take advanced leave?

thank you for the info, Sir I'm going to see if they can push my Deros back till end of march.

SGT Cory Pixley - Ahhh. Now that you mentioned DEROS, then that means you're PCSing from OCONUS to CONUS, correct? That puts a different light on the situation because (I assume) your unit is stating you have to be out by your DEROS date and in the mind of whoever is telling you that, the only option is to take advance leave.

If your unit is trying to kick you out the door by your DEROS date (as they should), are you aware that if coming from OCONUS, unless you are prohibited in the special instructions from arriving early, you're authorized to report anytime from when your unit will release you (availability date) up to the report date on your orders (HRC*, 1d).

It is a relatively recent change at HRC (start of FY24), but even under the old guidance, if you were coming from OCONUS, you were allowed to report up to 60 days early (again, unless prohibited) to a new assignment, and 90 days if you were specifically allowed early reporting in the instructions.

You indicated in your original post that you could report 30 days early. Is this because you were under the assumption that it was 30 days or was 30 days specified in your special instructions?

IF your orders do specify that early reporting is not allowed (or only allowed 30 days in your case), you can extend your DEROS so that you aren't required to take more leave than desired. However, this starts to run into issues regarding coordinating assignments, troop strengths, etc. and there are timeframes that are normally involved. As such, the approval is at a higher level than your unit and usually you have to submit the foreign service tour extension (FSTE) months in advance (even a year prior if you're coming from a long-tour area).

Since you mentioned "push my DEROS back to the end of March", then it sounds like you are in the "out of luck" window for a voluntary extension. Even if you were involuntarily extended that request must go up your chain and be submitted to HRC with enough time that it can be approved outside of 30 days of your original DEROS.

At the point right now, look at the special instructions on your orders. If it doesn't prohibit early reporting (or limit you to reporting no more than 30 days early), then you're good to go. You can leave at any time you've finished your out-processing and your unit releases you. I WOULD do the courtesy of contacting your gaining unit and let them know that you will be reporting early in case there are administrative issues they need to address ("Pixley, you weren't supposed to be here for another month! I guess we can have you sit in the broom closet until we figure it out.")

To account for your time in-between when you leave and when you arrive, you will be put into the system as leave for the entire time (less travel time and administrative absences), but when you report into your new unit, your actual date of arrival will be put in as your end date.

Additionally, don't forget to ask your current unit to authorize you for 10 days of administrative absence (i.e., "permissive TDY", but that term was retired a few years ago) for your PCS.

I'm going with the assumption you're a single Soldier, so you'll be assigned to unaccompanied housing (i.e., barracks) at your CONUS location (E-5s and below) unless there is an issue with space. Many times units are adverse to authorizing an administrative absence if you aren't going to be "house hunting" or moving into on-post housing, but it is really for "relocation activities". However, it's not an entitlement so approval is up to your O-5 commander.
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* HRC updated early report guidance - https://www.hrc.army.mil/content/Reporting%20Times%20and%20Early%20Arrival%20during%20Reassignment
* AR 614-30 (Overseas Service) - https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/ARN6427_AR614-30_WEB_Final.pdf

MSG my unit has it as a requirement when leaving Korea that we must take leave from our Deros date to report date and has had a lot of service members. take the 2 months leave

SGT Cory Pixley - Doesn't matter what the unit policy is for that....granted, I understand their thought process (a little)......but the issue is what the regulations state and what IPPS-A will allow.