Blackout Times For Leave
The military has one of the most generous time off policies I’ve seen, at least in the U.S. But their restrictions on taking that time off can make it feel less available. We find plenty of ways to use it. My husband and I are constantly counting to ensure we’ll have enough for what we want to do, but there are a few significant restrictions that you should be aware of.
1. Blackout dates
Any time our spouses are on TDY or deployment or could potentially be on TDY or deployment, it is almost certainly a blackout date. I’m sure the military has a specific term for this, but it is a preset period when leave will not be approved, so you shouldn’t even bother submitting it.
For example, with my husband, we know he is on TDY for March, likely to be TDY for July, and deploying around October, plus or minus a month. We don’t have the specific dates for anything except the March TDY, but even those changes just last week. He may be gone the entire month or out for a few days, but we won’t know until the event is upon us. It does mean that we cannot and should not plan an event for those times. Knowing those dates as far in advance as possible saves us the scheduling snafus, but we never learn everything early enough with the military.
2. Blackout locations
Last Friday was Legislative Shabbat at our Temple. It is a time when local and state representatives come to our Temple to discuss ongoing concerns and issues in our community. They do a couple of events across Georgia, and this was our first time attending. It was really interesting, and not what I expected (although that is a story for another day), but the representatives we met with were unfamiliar with military life. They were shocked that there are some places my husband just can’t go while in the service.
These blackout locations are ever-changing as the dynamics of the world change, but there are some vacations we shouldn’t bother planning until the military is behind us. Part of this will depend on your service member's security level, and the other part is just the state of the world. I don’t know the full scope of where we can and can’t go today, and most of them aren’t top-of-mind vacation spots, but the military does get to dictate where we vacation.
3. Blackout seasons
Sometimes leave gets shut down for a season separate from TDYs and deployments. At our last base, there would be random base-wide training or inspections that wouldn’t affect my husband's daily comings and goings, but it did not mean he had to stay in the local area. That’s why we did Christmas in Oklahoma for so many years. He was able to take time off so he wouldn’t have to go into the office, but we couldn’t be outside of the local area.
Most of the time, things like this are advertised in advance. We knew a few months ahead that traveling at Christmas wasn’t an option. We also knew when those random weeks would happen. Squadrons also go through seasons where one too many people do something stupid on the weekends, leaving the whole squadron to be punished.
Earning leave is pretty much guaranteed in the military, but being able to use it isn’t. We are still at the whims of the military’s needs even when using the vacation days we’ve earned. And the most significant reality of planning a vacation with a service member is that there are no perfect, guaranteed dates. There are only “safest bets,” but even a safe bet is still a bet, and figuring out how to play those odds is a whole different conversation.