What is the maximum amount of ETS leave I can take?

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 22:38:27 -0400

My ETS is November 1st 2022
I'm leaving the service because I don't want to do law school online and the max I get is 6 month off during a reenlistment. I currently have 120 ETS balance, and Credit of 73 days of leave with 25.5 use or lose. I only take leave in July and for Christmas. (15 days). By the looks of it I'll a lot of ETS leave balance.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Apr 17 at 2021 11:37 PM

LTC Jason Mackay — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 23:37:15 -0400

Answer: your Commander determines how much leave you can take. I would advise scheduling an office call with your Company and Battalion Commanders to get their buy in to your plan before they are married to a long range training calendar.

I retired with about 100 days but it was carefully coordinated at the Brigade level AND I took on some long range projects and TDYs to meet missions and my personal objectives.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 17 at 2021 11:47 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 23:47:01 -0400

Your use/lose gets lost at the beginning of every fiscal year and you reset back to 60 days max. If you don't take any leave between now and October you'll lose 25.5 days

Response by SPC Robert Hendrickson made Apr 17 at 2021 11:51 PM

SPC Robert Hendrickson — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 23:51:12 -0400

best to check with the central finance section to make sure you are eligible for all the balance for accumulative leave value build-up and can keep your leave balance or cash to just enough just in case you need emergency leave days .. don't do like i did and lose mine.

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made Apr 18 at 2021 12:12 AM

SFC Casey O'Mally — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 00:12:08 -0400

IF you time everything right, and IF your Command approves it, and IF you have the 10 day PTDY ETS available to you, then you can max out at 100 days. In order to do that, you would need to have 60 days on 1 October 2021, not take ANY leave in from that point forward until you ETS. Which means on approximately 20 July (too lazy to do exact math) when you start terminal leave, you will have 82.5 days. But you will gain another 2.5 each month for Aug, Sep, and Oct, for a total of 90 days of leave. Toss on the 10 days of PTDY for your total of 100. You don't have to worry about use/lose for Oct 1, 2022, because at that point you will be below the cap. (Maybe 102.5 possible. I *think* you get another 2.5 on 1 November for leave earned in October, but not positive.)

But again.... that is a LOT of *IF*.

I worked it so that I went on leave in early August, with a retirement date of November 30. But I worked hard to make it happen, AND I had the blessing of my Command.

Response by SGT Jason Weisbrich made Apr 18 at 2021 10:59 AM

SGT Jason Weisbrich — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 10:59:29 -0400

You can sell back up to 60 days. This is a good practice if you don’t have a job lined up when you get out. It gives you some walking around money until you get yourself squared away. Take at least a few weeks to maybe go back home and line up a job or a place to stay if you don’t already have that taken care of. Things will be stressful enough without having to worry about a job and living space.

Response by SMSgt Bob Wilson made Apr 19 at 2021 1:47 AM

SMSgt Bob Wilson — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 01:47:39 -0400

Use it or lose it!!! As a SPC, they can find someone to take your place. They may not do as good job as you, but your unit can find a replacement until you return from leave [enjoy you vacation].