Summary: Instead of taking ordinary leave, take several 4 day passes that start on Thursday and end on Sunday. You will work less and enjoy block leave more all while saving up leave days.
If you are in the military you probably know what block leave is. In case you don't or your unit calls it something different, block leave is a 2-3 week period that is set aside for most of the soldiers to take ordinary leave. It's a great break when you have the leave days to spare, but you might be in a situation where you don't want to spend those days. Maybe you are saving days so you can take the full 60 days of terminal leave, or maybe you don't have any travel plans and don't want to waste leave days just sitting in the barracks. The problem with not taking full leave, though, is that you will likely be stuck on the rear detachment roster. Being put on the rear-d roster sucks because you still have to show up to work during the week, and you could get put on CQ or staff duty on a weekend day.
My solution to maximize time off while minimizing your obligation to show up at work, is to put in for 4 day passes. Submit as many as you can. Instead of doing a normal Friday through Monday pass, the trick is to do a Thursday through Sunday pass. This creates a situation where you only have to go into work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Some units even do Friday through Monday 4 day weekends all throughout block leave, so it might just be Tuesday and Wednesday at work. Additionally, since your pass starts on Thursday you can argue that you can't do a 24 hour duty the day before because you are "driving" and that would be "unsafe". That leaves just Monday and Tuesday that you are available to do CQ or staff duty. You could even volunteer for a 24 hour shift on Tuesday, get Wednesday off, and since it's a 4 day weekend for rear-d personnel, get the next Monday off. Just like that, you got yourself 6 straight days off from work. Over the course of an 18 day block leave (Friday the 1st to Monday the 18th for example), you could only be required to go to work as many as 6 days and as little as 2 days using the Offset Pass Method™.
-Days you should be on pass
-Days you might have to work
-Days you will probably have to work
| Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
Any questions, tips, or requests, email tomdipietro@teamroommedia.com
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