Skip to comments.
R&R Program funds more travel, fewer flights
Army News Service ^
| Jan. 9, 2004
Posted on 01/10/2004 11:01:44 AM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl
R&R Program funds more travel, fewer flights
By Spc. Lorie Jewell
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Army News Service, Jan. 9, 2004) Soldiers coming home on rest and recuperation leave will now have their travel expenses covered to the airport closest to their R&R destination.
The policy change came with the Dec. 19 approval to fund the onward travel program by Charles Abell, principal deputy, under secretary of defense for Personnel & Readiness. Congress recommended spending $55 million of the Armys Operation and Maintenance funds to cover the cost of expanding the program, according to a Department of Defense news release.
Until now, service members and DoD civilians participating in the R&R program received free transportation from Kuwait City to Rhein Main Air Base in Germany, Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport or Atlanta International Airport. From there, they had to cover any remaining airline travel expenses.
Now, the program will cover the cost of travel from BWI to a commercial airport closest to their leave destination, said Col. Paris Mack, chief of the R&R leave program task force.
As of Jan. 1, Soldiers make travel arrangements and receive airline tickets to their final R&R destination at the travel office in Kuwait, said Mack. Those who paid for airline tickets between Dec. 19 and Jan. 1 can get the cost reimbursed on the travel voucher they submit upon their return to Kuwait from R&R leave, Mack said.
While the program is expanding in the area of onward travel, it is paring back on the number of debarkation ports. When the program kicked off in September, Soldiers were flown either to Germany or BWI. In November, Dallas and Atlanta airports were added to the program. Those two airports will no longer be used as debarkation ports, Mack said.
With the way units are rotating now, there arent as many people eligible to participate in the program, so we dont need as many ports, said Mack.
Future plans are to add Dallas and Atlanta back to the program as of June 1, and possibly Los Angelas at some point after that, Mack added.
To be eligible for the R&R program, a Soldier must have served at least three months but no more than 11 months in theater.
|
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: army; dod; marines; rr
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-22 next last
To: TexKat; armymarinemom; solo gringo; CheneyChick; VOA; Coop; MJY1288; Calpernia; Grampa Dave; ...
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Army News Service, Jan. 9, 2004) Soldiers coming home on rest and recuperation leave will now have their travel expenses covered to the airport closest to their R&R destination.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fyi, R&R travel expense rule changes.
2
posted on
01/10/2004 11:10:57 AM PST
by
Ragtime Cowgirl
(Afghans say ~ the *Taliban disease* ~ "the US cured it with an injection of B52!.." ~ Freeper merrin)
To: All
Rank |
Location |
Receipts |
Donors/Avg |
Freepers/Avg |
Monthlies |
4 |
Virginia |
1,596.50
|
32
|
49.89
|
588
|
2.72
|
489.50
|
23
|
Thanks for donating to Free Republic!
Move your locale up the leaderboard!
3
posted on
01/10/2004 11:11:27 AM PST
by
Support Free Republic
(Freepers post from sun to sun, but a fundraiser bot's work is never done.)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
R&R Program funds more travel, fewer flights ~ Bump!
4
posted on
01/10/2004 11:17:39 AM PST
by
blackie
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Well, this pisses me off...R&R started in Oct...why no reimbursment to those soldiers from Oct to Dec....
5
posted on
01/10/2004 12:07:11 PM PST
by
mystery-ak
(Mike...we are entering the home stretch)
To: mystery-ak
The policy change came with the Dec. 19 approval to fund the onward travel program by Charles Abell, principal deputy, under secretary of defense for Personnel & Readiness. That needs correcting.
Delta (and co.) started Operation Hero Miles before the DoD started paying R&R expenses.
Mike shouldn't be punished for being in a war zone longer than those who qualified for the later free travel expenses. Stay tuned...I'll keep my eyes open, too.
6
posted on
01/10/2004 3:38:38 PM PST
by
Ragtime Cowgirl
(Afghans say ~ the *Taliban disease* ~ "the US cured it with an injection of B52!.." ~ Freeper merrin)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Mike took his R&R the first week of Nov...being a 1sgt(who approves the list) he could have taken it anytime...but he gave all the holidays to young family men...this is the thanks he gets!
7
posted on
01/10/2004 3:49:58 PM PST
by
mystery-ak
(Mike...we are entering the home stretch)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Mike took his R&R the first week of Nov...being a 1sgt(who approves the list) he could have taken it anytime...but he gave all the holidays to young family men...this is the thanks he gets!
8
posted on
01/10/2004 3:50:06 PM PST
by
mystery-ak
(Mike...we are entering the home stretch)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
sorry for the double post...
This isn't just about Mike...Since R&R started in Oct...thousands of others took their leave from Oct to Dec 19th...in fact his Chinook that was shot down was full of troopers headed for R&R.
9
posted on
01/10/2004 3:54:25 PM PST
by
mystery-ak
(Mike...we are entering the home stretch)
To: mystery-ak
I understand. Speak up, m-a. Do you have a local military support group or Veterans group brave and caring enough to intercede with the DoD on behalf of military families?
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
No, our family support system is pathetic,we are all on our own.
11
posted on
01/10/2004 4:21:18 PM PST
by
mystery-ak
(Mike...we are entering the home stretch)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Oh good, one of my boys got a fairly low lottery number and he thought it might mean coming home in January. This will be a big relief for him.
12
posted on
01/10/2004 5:15:31 PM PST
by
McGavin999
(Don't be a Freeploader-Have you donated yet?)
To: mystery-ak
Oh, N., you are
not on your own. We aren't down the street, but you don't have to change out of your pajamas to talk, and these machines are pretty handy for rallying homefront Freepers, and for contacting support groups.
(^: You are in daily prayers, too!
CENTCOM and CJTF7 haven't put out any news releases yet today, which means I have extra time to scout out the net, maybe find a few other curious and disgruntled warriors with pre-Dec. 19 R&R.
I'll be back!
To: Ragtime Cowgirl; mystery-ak
Good evening ladies, sounds like we are a little upset, we just saw this policy yesterday. I have no idea why they always seem to pick some arbitrary date when they do this. Everybody should write their congress person. It was still worth the price of the ticket to get to go home. I can afford it, but many of the others can't and should be re-imbursed.
14
posted on
01/10/2004 6:34:55 PM PST
by
mike1sg
(From the vacation paradise, the cradle of civilization; Iraq)
To: mike1sg; mystery-ak
Thank you for stopping by, 1 Sg Mike. You know we get fiercely defensive on behalf of loved ones who are defending our freedom, and who's "boss" (the DoD) is sometimes too big, and clumsy to see that it's stepping on our warriors.
(^: N., answer your ping!
To: Ragtime Cowgirl; mike1sg
DICK Durbin is a waste of time...Im calling Ray LaHood's office monday...he's helped me before, at least I'll get an answer from him.
I was just wondering, after reading this again...could the Oct to Dec 19th reimbursement's be coming from other monies in the DOD?...
16
posted on
01/10/2004 7:22:08 PM PST
by
mystery-ak
(Mike...we are entering the home stretch)
To: mystery-ak
The reason they are getting tight fisted is in the article, the army was directed to take the funds out of their operating budget, they would gladly pay everybody back if they were given NEW money to do it.
17
posted on
01/10/2004 7:29:49 PM PST
by
mike1sg
(From the vacation paradise, the cradle of civilization; Iraq)
To: mike1sg
Well, that makes sense..NOT!...why single out a few thousand and the rest get nothing!
18
posted on
01/10/2004 7:37:31 PM PST
by
mystery-ak
(Mike...we are entering the home stretch)
To: mystery-ak
There you go, trying to make sense out of something, they do this all the time. They just did it to a bunch of people who re-enlisted for a supposed bonus, and found out the bonus had a time frame, not happy campers.
19
posted on
01/10/2004 7:41:44 PM PST
by
mike1sg
(From the vacation paradise, the cradle of civilization; Iraq)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Bump!
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-22 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson