Leave is a commander’s program and the commander may put stipulations in place to granting the leave. Many times, Soldiers who are designated “high risk” are required to check in telephonically each day while on approved leave, whether they are in the local area or not. This is especially true when taking block leave after a deployment. Unit leadership has to make a determination of “risk” for each Soldier. This is based on prior misconduct, pending divorce, alcohol issues, etc.
Now, if there is no stipulation of this, then when a Soldier is on approved leave, they still have to be able to be contacted, incase of recall, emergency, etc. In this case, the Soldier can inform his command upfront that I am going camping at this location and may be unaccessable from Friday to Sunday. The command will then know he’s out of touch but make him call back in on Sunday just to verify he is OK.
It is more a safety and welfare issue, especially for young Soldiers. As long as the command isn’t restricting the Soldier by making him physically come in everyday, then I don’t see an issue. Remember, a Soldier is required to provide a leave address and contact informatoin for when they are on leave. So, if they are going to be unavailable for a period of the time they are on leave, they need to make the command aware of it.
The best option would be to contact your chain of command and explain what is going on and seek their approval or an alternative for checking in. For example they may have no problem with you going camping, or they may simply say just check in once a day by a specific time. Working with the chain of command is the best way to go. Keep them informed. If your immediate supervisor says no you can always work the issue up to the commander who is approving the leave as he is the person granting the leave.
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