There’s a cadence in the Army: if the Army gives you $100, they will take back $99. There is something fundamentally wrong when the U.S. government tells a service member, “Thank you for your sacrifice,” and then turns around and takes away benefits they have earned.
That’s exactly what happens under the military’s outdated 60-day leave carryover cap. Leave is not a handout. It is not a bonus. Leave is earned compensation. Every day of leave on a service member’s record was earned through deployments, training exercises, missed holidays, missed birthdays, missed anniversaries, and countless hours spent serving the nation.
Yet under current law, the government can simply erase that benefit.
Not because the service member failed to earn it.
Not because the commander determined it wasn’t deserved.
Not because of misconduct.
But because the service member was too busy doing the job the U.S. asked them to do to take a few days off!
That is absurd, and it’s literally the government stealing from its own military.
As a combat veteran myself, I know the military routinely tells troops that the mission comes first. Then, when operational demands prevent them from taking leave, the government punishes them by confiscating the leave they earned. And even worse, service members have the option of selling those days back to the military. If the days are confiscated before being used or sold, the government is quite literally taking money out of our service members’ pockets.
How does that make any sense?
At a time when military leaders openly acknowledge recruiting and retention challenges and focus on overcoming those challenges, we should not be defending a policy that sends exactly the wrong message. Work harder. Deploy more. Sacrifice more. Spend more time away from your family. And if that prevents you from using your earned leave before an arbitrary deadline, too bad — you lose it.
No private-sector employer could get away with that logic. Congress shouldn’t tolerate it for the men and women defending this country.
My amendment to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act fixes this oversight. It’s not radical. It is not complicated.
It does not increase military pay. It does not create a new entitlement. It does not diminish command authority. It does not require commanders to approve a single additional day of leave.
I am asking to remove the statutory 60-day leave carryover cap, allowing service members to retain leave they have earned through their service and use it when they can finally take a break from responding to their call of duty. Whether that be during their time in uniform or to help ease the transition to civilian life, put the decision in their hands where it belongs.
Opponents may talk about systems, policies, and administrative concerns. But none of those arguments answer the basic question: Why should the government be allowed to take earned compensation away from a service member? It would be like telling a soldier because they saved money instead of spending, it will now be confiscated.
There is no good answer.
Commanders will still control leave. Mission requirements will still come first. The difference is that service members will no longer face an annual race against the calendar to avoid losing benefits they’ve already earned.
The current system creates exactly the wrong incentives. Every year, troops are pressured to take leave because of a deadline rather than because it makes sense for their unit, their family, or their mission. It is inefficient. It is unnecessary. And everyone knows it.
Congress has spent years creating temporary exceptions and special carve-outs because lawmakers understand the policy is broken. If a rule requires endless exceptions to make it fair, the problem is the rule itself.
I need a senator willing to buck the status quo and stand with me, sponsoring my amendment in the Senate version of the NDAA. Someone willing to look our service members in the eye and say, we will no longer let this continue.
This should not be a difficult decision.
America asks extraordinary things of its military. The least we can do is stop taking away compensation they have already earned.
A FEDERAL COURT JUST TOLD VETERANS THEY CAN’T CHOOSE THEIR OWN HELP
If Members of Congress truly support the troops, now is the time to prove it.
End the confiscation of earned leave. And send a simple message to every service member in uniform: what you earn through your service belongs to you.
Brian Mast is a member of the House of Representatives serving the people of Florida’s 21st Congressional District.