Expert: James Bell - 8/28/2008

Question
first off sir i want to say thank you for taking your time to help answer all of these questions that people have i know they have been a great help to me and my friends..im leaving for basic in november to become a load master and im verry excited!but i read that you didnt get to take leave for over a year when you first started that seems like a long time for me not to see faimley and my girl friend that i want to marrie.i know that this is the armed forces and i can expect not to see them for a period of time at points but if i didnt want to see them for a year i would have joined the marines where they have 13 month deployments..what im getting at is if this is the case that im not going to be able to take leave for that long is there any other job that is half way intresting that i can look into where i can take leave sooner then that?thank you for your time sir...kevin

Answer
Greetings Kevin -

Air Force regulations state that you are not eligible for leave while in training status.  That includes Basic, all your tech schools, and mission qualification training.  This entire process takes roughly a year.  The good news is that, by that time you will have an entire month saved up that you can take.  Most civilian businesses only provide one to two weeks per year of vacation time, so an entire month is great.  I have taken a full 30 days leave, and it really helps you get back to family and friends .

That also doesn't mean that family and friends can't come out to visit you.  With the exception of Basic Training, there is nothing to prevent you from having visitors to the base.

I hope this answers your question.  If not, or if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to write back.

Sincerely,
James Bell