The Air Force on Monday revoked a policy providing troops extra time off around holidays, saying the widespread leave known as “Family Days” hurt the department’s ability to carry out its missions.
The Air Force has in the past granted airmen and guardians those extra days off, usually in conjunction with a holiday that falls on a Thursday, Friday or Monday. This gives troops a regular series of four-day weekends — roughly one a month — to spend as they wish.
In a Feb. 11 memo cracking down on civilian employees’ use of Family Days and announcing a broader review of the policy, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn DeFilippi said these days “recognize our teams’ contributions to the mission and our families’ enduring support of our efforts.” Meetings and scheduled activities are often minimized during such days, DeFilippi said then.
But in an April 7 memo that leaked online, Acting Air Force Secretary Gary Ashworth said the more generous leave policy for troops won’t work with the military’s new focus on sharpening its effectiveness.
“The Department of the Air Force is focused on restoring lethality and readiness to our force,” Ashworth said in the memo, first posted Tuesday by the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page. “Providing a blanket designation of pass days, often called family days, to align with all eleven federal holidays throughout the year does not support our ability to execute the mission with excellence while maintaining our competitive advantage.”
An Air Force official confirmed the memo is genuine.
Ashworth advised commanders across the services to review their leave policies to ensure they align with readiness. Leaders are allowed to grant passes to service members at their discretion, Ashworth said, when that time off doesn’t harm operational missions and warfighting requirements.
Reaction to the memo on the amn/nco/snco Facebook page was mixed. Some commenters said certain key airmen, such as security forces, rarely received extra days off and that the mission needs to come first.
Others doubted canceling this time off would measurably improve lethality and readiness and said it would harm morale and retention.
“This is disappointing,” one commenter said. “Big Air Force will mandate that you show up and do busywork for 8-12 hours a day after Christmas and then wonder why you don’t want to reenlist.”
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
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