All Fort Bliss soldiers, from enlisted to officers, permanently assigned to the Texas base, will be required to put in for at least 14 days of annual leave starting in October 2023.
The purpose of the mandatory leave is to give soldiers an opportunity to rest and recuperate from the stress of military service, according to a June 22 memo by the base’s commanding general, Maj. Gen. James P. Isenhower III. Soldiers will be able to use the time to take a well-deserved break to rest and relax. Isenhower said in the memo that the Army hopes the move will improve soldiers’ resiliency and allow them to return to duty recharged and ready for action.
“Resilient soldiers are ready soldiers. I expect all ranks to use leave to build resilience,” Isenhower wrote. “Take well-deserved time off to recharge and to invest in relationships with family and friends. Remember, to the Army we are replaceable. To our family and friends, we are not. Take leave. Strengthen your social networks. Build personal resilience. Return ready to fight.”
The leave is mandatory for all uniformed personnel permanently assigned to Fort Bliss and can be either taken in bulk or spread out throughout the fiscal year. It will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2023.
The message behind the move is one that’s often echoed by rank-and-file soldiers across the force: Leave, when you can take it, is good for morale.
“During his first year of command, [Maj. Gen.] Isenhower assessed the climate of readiness and resilience at Fort Bliss,” Maj. Jessica Rovero said in a statement to Army Times. “He believes taking leave is a major component of building and maintaining resilience and wanted to underscore this obligation as the senior installation commander. This policy is his way of leveraging his role and authority to make it abundantly clear that leave is not merely a convenient benefit but also a critical component to building soldier readiness and resilience.”
According to a 2021 study published in the National Library of Medicine, greater unit support, marital satisfaction, and psychological hardiness produced soldiers with less anger, anxiety, depression, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress. With this new mandatory leave, the Defense Department and the Army seem to be hoping that it will help them achieve increased work performance from their troops and stronger personal resilience.
The policy memo from Isenhower states that exceptions to this leave can be granted on a case-by-case basis by brigade commanders or the first O-6 in a soldier’s chain of command. However, this authority to make exceptions may not be further delegated.
“This policy is consistent with DoD and Army regulations and focuses on caring for our soldiers and families at Fort Bliss. It does not create any new administrative requirements for soldiers to take leave,” Rovero said. “It does not add an administrative burden on the chain of command, as our recent implementation of [Integrated Personnel and Pay System - Army] makes leave expenditure for any unit a simple query pull, far easier than previous processes. Though it mandates 14 days of leave for every soldier, the timing of leave remains subject to mission requirements. Understanding that each Soldier and their family are different and may have good reasons to accrue leave, [Maj. Gen.] Isenhower delegated authority to O-6 commanders to approve exceptions to this policy.”
This policy comes after the Army rolled out a new human resources platform in December, articulating more transparency and fewer administrative burdens for soldiers. With this platform, soldiers can now make and track their own requests for leave, though as Army Times previously reported, some soldiers have complained of unit leaders going out of their way to inject bureaucratic barriers into the process.
Still, mandating leave for soldiers ranks among one of the better versions of “mandatory fun” out there.
Georgina DiNardo is an editorial fellow for Military Times and Defense News and a recent graduate of American University, specializing in journalism, psychology, and photography in Washington, D.C.
