[Ronin]

Lacy has obviously never served in the military. The man put in his request, got it approved through the chain of command, took his leave, end of story.

Would his chain of command have been justified in turning down his leave request based on that set policy? Sure. But there are always exceptions to policy based on bonafide need -- and the duty of a state senator to represent his constituients is pretty bonafide.

[Ramius]

The decision to grant leave or not is utterly up the C.O. and nobody --nobody-- else. He requested leave and it was granted by the C.O. There is no story beyond that.