DODI 1327.06 - Military Leave, Liberty, and Administrative Absence

Scope

DODI 1327.06 establishes policy, assigns responsibilities, and prescribes procedures for military leave, liberty, and administrative absences across the DoD, providing uniformity among the services under Section 704 of Title 10. The 2025-08-07 issuance reissues and cancels the 2009 instruction as amended. MCO 1050.3J executes it for the Marine Corps, and the IGMC leave and liberty checklist quotes it directly.

Audience

• Commanders and leave approvers running annual leave programs.
• S-1 personnel processing leave, PTAD, and administrative absence requests.
• Marines managing accrual, carryover, and special program eligibility.
• HQMC Manpower Plans and Policy owning the service implementation.

Operative content

• Annual leave programs. Every unit commander establishes one so members take leave within operational constraints. Section 3.1.
• Special leave accrual protects balances lost to operational tempo, and does not authorize carrying over 60 days when the loss traces to the member's own mismanagement. Section 3.8.
• Leave charging. The departure or return day charges as leave unless the member is at work for the majority of normal working hours. Leave starting on a non-workday charges the departure day, leave ending on a non-workday does not charge the return day. Section 5.1.b.
• Parental leave. Twelve weeks for the birth parent following convalescence, twelve weeks for the non-birth parent, both inside the year after birth. Increments run in blocks of at least 7 days, twelve increments maximum, with annual leave usable between increments. Members who place a child for adoption or surrender through surrogacy are not eligible. Section 3.11.c.
• Bereavement leave. Up to 14 consecutive days on the death of a spouse or child under Section 701(l) of Title 10, eligibility keyed to the accrued balance, the period ends no later than 14 days after the funeral or memorial. Section 3.11.j.
• Convalescent leave grants from the commander or military treatment facility director on provider recommendation. Section 3.11.a.
• PTAD requires an authorized purpose from the Section 4.4.b list, and administrative absences over 30 days control at service headquarters. Section 4.4.

Connection to higher policy

• 10 USC 701, 704, 705, and 1143. The leave statutes.
• 37 USC 501. Leave sell-back.

Connection to Marine Corps doctrine and lower policy

• MCO 1050.3J. The Marine Corps leave and liberty order implementing the instruction.
• MARADMIN 625/24 and MARADMIN 188/25. Advance notice of MCO 1050.3J changes and leave program updates.
• DoD 7000.14-R Volume 7A. The pay side of leave sell-back and R&R programs.

Status

Active. The 2025-08-07 reissue, approved by USD(P&R), cancels the 2009 instruction. Portal pages citing Change 5 of the 2009 instruction now point at the reissue, swept 2026-07-15.