Posted on Jun 2, 2024
CSM Eric Biggs
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Has something changed in the last 18 month? Are not all units required to provide IDT for Soldiers who commute 150+ miles, and or LIK?

I have an employee who I just found out has not been provided LIK, nor has he been reimbursed for travel (IDT) for over a year now. I'm looking for updated info before I call his command and chew someone out.
Posted in these groups: Reserves logo Reserves
Edited 6 mo ago
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COL Randall C.
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No change, however you might have a mistaken understanding about the program which was authorized back in the FY17 NDAA. Services may (not "required to") reimburse IDT travel (if over the set policy distance) or provide Lodging-in-Kind if (and this is the BIG elephant in the room) funding is available.

Although there is usually a service-level overarching policy, the details of implementation will vary between the different COMPOs and major commands within the services (i.e., the latest USAR IDT-TRP/LIK policy from FY23*)

Having said that, your chew session may still be applicable. My experience is that when reserve component service members aren't being paid IDT-TRP or provided LIK, it's because of a screw-up on the unit side, not because funding wasn't allocated. Looking specifically at the USAR, there was almost $27M in the FY24 budget for LIK.

I would dig into it a bit more to find out what the service/command policy is for your employee, but odds are, it would be human error somewhere rather than a lack of funding that they haven't had any reimbursement for over a year.
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* USAR IDT-TRP/LIK policyh - https://www.usar.army.mil/Portals/98/Documents/Publications/memos/USARC%20LIK%20Policy.pdf
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CSM Eric Biggs
CSM Eric Biggs
6 mo
COL Randall C., thank you Sir. That is what I thought. I may have jumped the gun with this question. I received new information that he may have not submitted receipts to DTS. Also waiting to hear if others in his unit are getting LIK. However I still think the chew session is warranted, but more along the lines of filing to inform junior Soldiers of benefits like these, and how to utilize them. Also sounds like his First Line Leader is a "SGT", (let the rank get to his head) not an NCO.
My biggest issue is this young Soldier can't wait for his contract to be up, so he can get out as he feels ignored and left in the dark all the time. Retention problems, I wonder why!
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SGM G3 Sergeant Major
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6 mo
CSM Eric Biggs - Sometimes it is a funding issue. $27M sounds like a lot, but if 15% of the force across the USAR qualifies, then it amounts to about $600 per TPU per year, which doesn't cover very much of the year.
Sometimes it is the TPU not submitting DTS properly, (in a lot of cases, not just drill) and that is a failure of your AGRs, fulltimers, UAs,, whatever you call them there. The unit AGR should provide the guidance on a drill DTS auth like that every time, and ensure they are complete prior to the end of drill.
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CSM Eric Biggs
CSM Eric Biggs
6 mo
SGM Jeff Mccloud, that has also been my experience. Thank you.
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