Can a commander force you to take leave?

You can’t be forced to take leave unless you are in violation of a leave-pass policy. The intent for most Soldiers approaching their ETS date is to accumulate a good cushion of leave to aid in job hunting, transitioning to the civilian sector, and so on. My advice, if the situation is accurate, would be to request an audience with your next senior commander and/or IG to clear up the discrepancy.

if what you are saying is accurate, and the only reason is his concern regarding the AAA 162, then I would request an audience with the next higher lvl, Commanders open door policy is something created for situations just like this. Because the bottom line is, you are going to be on the books until your ETS date regardless, and being short 1 E-4 for 45 days is not going to make his company non mission capable.

Take that BS to the next higher commander. How absolutely ridiculous; 45 days isn’t even that much terminal leave.