Written question asked by Andrew Murrison (Conservative) on Tuesday, 1 April 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 3 April 2008. It was answered by Bob Ainsworth (Labour) on Monday, 21 April 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether leave for troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan is counted from the time that a person (a) leaves for the airhead, (b) arrives at the airhead, (c) arrives in the UK or (d) arrives home.

Answer: Service personnel deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan may be granted ‘Rest and Recuperation’ (R and R) on the authority of the in-theatre operational commander. This is in addition to annual leave.The maximum permissible period for each instance of R and R is 14 nights, inclusive of travelling time. As such, R and R is counted from the time that the individual leaves for the airhead. While the policy on R and R states that it would normally be taken in or as close to theatre as possible, in practice R and R is most commonly taken at home.In addition, service personnel receive post operational leave (POL). The qualifying period for POL commences from the day that service personnel leave their permanent duty station and continues until the day they return to it.POL, which is also in addition to annual leave, should commence as soon as possible after service personnel arrive home from the qualifying deployment. The journey home is considered as part of the deployment and not as part of POL.

Secondary information