Posted on Jan 1, 2016
1SG Hvac Design Technician
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During this training year I will be attending SLC and one month later NTC, both three weeks long. My wife works overnights and is in nursing school. Is there a military protection act that would allow her unpaid Military Leave so she can stay home with our kids without leaving/losing her job?
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CPT Assistant Operations Officer (S3)
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Yes. FMLA should cover that. My wife has used it several times. There are some guide lines for it but it is meant for this.
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1SG Hvac Design Technician
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We are definitely going to talk to her HR department. When I was gone for JRTC she juggled work, college and kids, but this time she will be doing her clinicals. Its nothing short of amazing!
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CPT Assistant Operations Officer (S3)
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1SG (Join to see) - I agree. I feel bad for my wife at times. I think she has it worse than I. I am in the National Guard but I haven't been home for more than a couple months in a few years. I did IBOLC and came home for a month. Then I went off to Pre-Ranger and Ranger. I did the extended stay there, so after 100 days I was done with both only to be greeted by my commander saying we are deploying in a few months. I went to a langauge school and then off to Jordan. I was back for a month and then went to New York only to be PCS to Fort Benning for an active duty assignment. This whole time my wife worked, went to college and took care of our daughter. To make it worse we got a dog also. But hats off to the wives. They do their share for sure.
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MSG William Wold
MSG William Wold
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It's a new day I guess. Was before, for National Guard, since your "state first" if you were active duty for training/schooling, your still attached at the hip and that's under a different title than active duty because you were "federally" activated for duty and deployment, there wasn't any of this coverage for just training or school, you had to be activated for deployment. Maybe you can pull the wool over the eyes of the employer, but the last challenge I saw, that was the ruling, but it's been a few years.
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CPT Assistant Operations Officer (S3)
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MSG William Wold - True. Best of luck with your situation.
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SSG Operations Nco
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Federal law says you'd have to be deployed or on active duty for contingency operations. Source: https://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/2013rule/FMLA_Military_Guide_ENGLISH.pdf

Hopefully there's a state law that can help you out.
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1SG Hvac Design Technician
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Thanks, that is the same file I looked at and I came to the same conclusion that it wouldn't be covered. The whole thing seems excessively complicated, but that is no shocker.
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SMSgt Paralegal
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While I understand this is a hardship, it is one that both you and your wife were aware of when she took a job working nights and attending nursing school with the additional hardship of taking care of children. With all military training requirements, you have a timeline of when you would progress in your career and be due to attend trainings - these are only 2 short trainings of 3 weeks each with a break between them. What would you and your wife due if you were required to deploy short notice and would be gone at least 90 plus days. I am not trying to seem harsh or uncaring, but as a military member (not just guard member) you signed up to get the benefits of the military, but also with the knowledge that you would have to give up time with family, and for a guard member from your civilian employment. What would your wife due, if you were required to deploy - would she have to quit work, drop out of classes for that time frame, change work schedules, arrange for familty and other care providers for your children. These are questions that you as a military family have to address - for both short and long term military duty. I agree with other responses that you should check with your unit JAG office to see what federal or state laws would be helpful in the situation. If you are planning on staying in the guard for the whole 20 plus years or until age 60, this type of situation will come up again and again. I have been there as a single parent and had to go to both my 3 and 7 level training for 6 weeks each. I had to have family to take care of my children so that I could attend. But this was something that I was told when I requested to cross training - so I knew about it and could plan for it. Please everyone that is reading this - take a good look at what your military unit training and career education training requirements are as you would for your civilian career - what do I have to do this year, in the next 5 years, etc. What hardships will my absence from home and/or work suffer due to my required military duty? If you show, the military, your employer and your wife's employer that you have these requirements and this is how I think we can make it work in the best way for all of us. Not to say that it will be equal - your spouse is always going to have to give the most in the situation. It is just a fact of life in the military - no matter if it the branch, active duty or a reserve/guard member.
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1SG Hvac Design Technician
1SG (Join to see)
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Very true, we both know and accept the hardships that come with military service. Thankfully we are blessed to have excellent extended family who are always willing to help out in these situations. We have made it work through deployments and many other training courses and these will be no different.

The great thing about RallyPoint is that it gives us the opportunity to draw information from a diverse group of people with a similar tie and you never know if someone has the answer unless you ask.
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