Short Days

[Lil VooDoo]

Good Day,
Im trying to write a memo to request short days for this month but cant find anything anywhere about shorts. The biggest problem I have run into is that I have no idea where to find the Pers number code thing for the top of the memo. Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[sarahsmom]

http://vcds.mil.ca/cos-cem/Resources/L1Admin/COS%20VCDS%20CR/VCDS%20File%20Plan_long.pdf

This may help with the file number.

 

[McG]

Use your service number followed by "(pers)"

 

[Pusser]

Memo for short leave?  Why not just do up a leave pass and explain in person to your supervisor (who signs the pass as "reccomending") why you want it?  Is your unit so large that folks can't simply talk about stuff?

Short Leave is pretty much as the CO's discretion - The Leave Manual gives some guidelines, but there is a lot of leeway.

 

[dangerboy]

Memo for short leave?  Why not just do up a leave pass and explain in person to your supervisor (who signs the pass as "reccomending") why you want it?  Is your unit so large that folks can't simply talk about stuff?

Short Leave is pretty much as the CO's discretion - The Leave Manual gives some guidelines, but there is a lot of leeway.

Maybe it is an Army thing but every unit I have been in, if a troops wants leave outside of designated leave blocks it has always required a memo explaining why.

 

[Pusser]

Maybe it is an Army thing but every unit I have been in, if a troops wants leave outside of designated leave blocks it has always required a memo explaining why.

It's certainly not a Navy thing (at least not in my experience).  I have never submitted a memo requesting Short Leave, nor have I ever received one from a subordinate.  The funny thing is that earlier today I was in another thread where folks were dumping on the Navy for treating its personnel badly, particularly with over-administration...

 

[Biohazardxj]

Good Day,
Im trying to write a memo to request short days for this month but cant find anything anywhere about shorts. The biggest problem I have run into is that I have no idea where to find the Pers number code thing for the top of the memo. Thanks for any help you can give!

Canadian Forces Leave Policy Manual is what you are looking for.  If I am not mistaken, been a while since I looked at file numbers, I think it is 5500-1  When in doubt, ask your clerk.  That is what they are there for.

 

[BinRat55]

Short leave isn't an "entitlement" per se. Therefore the soldier doesn't ASK for it - a good supervisor or Tp Comd should request the short leave on behalf of the person(s) for an earned break - much extra effort / hours put in, that sort of thing. If someone has to ask for short, a Sr NCO isn't doing their job... in MY opinion.

Short leave is very much abused these days and also under used!

 

[Pusser]

There's nothing wrong with an individual asking for Short Leave.

 

[PuckChaser]

Absolutely not, but it's also not an entitlement, completely CO's discretion.

 

[BinRat55]

There's nothing wrong with an individual asking for Short Leave.

I do agree with you Pusser - however what I'm saying is that one should not even have the chance to ask for it - if we are on top of things and a member deserves it, we should be "offering" it. That's all. Short leave isn't given "just because" and often I see members request short leave this time of year due to poor planning (not a generalization I promise - not everyone who runs out of leave has planned poorly) however this is not an excuse for short.

From the Leave Policy manual (SHORT LEAVE)

The purpose of short leave is to provide a member of the Regular Force or of the Reserve Force on Class B or C Reserve Service with time away from their duties to:
•compensate, in part, for long hours worked during extended periods of operations/training or working on normal days of rest;
•provide members with time away from their duties to conduct urgent personal business; or
•reward exemplary work.

 

[Lumber]

Short leave is very much abused these days and also under used!

Agreed. Interstingly, from what I've seen/heard, its use is very different between the different elements, but that its use is somewhat homogenous within an element. For example, 4 years aboard ships in Halifax, neither I nor any of my friends aboard any of the other ships received short days as part of our Christmas leave plan. However, just across the harbour in Shearwater (as well as in Greenwood and Comox, I discovered), everyone in the Air Force received 2 short days as part of their Christmas leave plan. When I asked my pilot buddies why, they just said "I dunno, they just always do that."

It's certainly not a Navy thing (at least not in my experience).  I have never submitted a memo requesting Short Leave, nor have I ever received one from a subordinate.  The funny thing is that earlier today I was in another thread where folks were dumping on the Navy for treating its personnel badly, particularly with over-administration...

Which thread would that be, may I ask?  :threat:

Short leave is very much abused these days and also under used!

 

[BinRat55]

I am aware of units (first hand) where their CO actually requires the members of that unit to take 2 short per month. Unequivocally. Conversely, I was with a unit where I begged, pleaded and proved in writing three different ways only to get denied. Never knew what short leave even looked like for years!

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

It is very common practice in the Army to require a memo from the individual for Short Leave requests outside of the blanket ones given to a complete unit. The CO holds the authority for granting Short Leave. Following an exercise it is common for an army unit to be granted Short Leave en masse. It is also common to have it added to Christmas leave. While the leave policies give some examples of situations that might qualify for Short Leave, ultimately it is the Commanding Officer's decision.

As a Squadron Commander I would expect to see a memorandum from a soldier requesting Short Leave with the leave pass attached if the request fell outside of one of these blanket periods. I could not grant the leave, so neither could I deny it. I could, however, support or not support the request while forwarding it to the CO. The memo, signed by the soldier, would explain the reasons for the request. I would fully expect to see an accompanying minute from the soldier' s supervisor(s) supporting the request (or not) and adding some details. So, if Corporal Bloggins was requesting a day of Short Leave to be able to attend his Grade 6 daughter's all-day Basketball tournament in Moncton on a Wednesday I would expect to see that written in the memo. The Troop Leader for the Cpl would add a minute to the minute supporing the request, noting that the Cpl in question is a hard-working member of the Sqn who willingly volunteers for additional duties on weekends such as he did for the Pioneer Days work-party in the summer and over Christmas leave in the duty room. The minute would also state that the Troop Leader had checked the leave records and that the Cpl only had five days of Annual Leave left that would be used at March Break. Finally, the minute would remind me that would not be in the field that day and that the Cpl's absence would not affect the Troop unduly. I would then add my own short minute to the CO fully supporting the request and expect to see it granted as it fit the CAF and unit policies and answered any potential questions that the CO would have.

Behind the scenes a Lieutenant has learned about the leave policy and memo-writing under the guidance of the Squadron 2IC and I have learned something about my Lieutenant's attention to man-management. This administration may seem tedious, but it ensures that leave policies and other such matters are handled with some consistency and fairness across a unit. This is importat for the maintenance of good morale and is not, therefore, merely red tape.

If you're in the army, its what you do.

 

[Bzzliteyr]

So... it's not just a text to my boss saying "can I get Monday off for the family day I missed while instructing in Kingston last month?"

Oops.

 

[sidemount]

We call those "under the table" days

 

[Stoker]

Agreed. Interstingly, from what I've seen/heard, its use is very different between the different elements, but that its use is somewhat homogenous within an element. For example, 4 years aboard ships in Halifax, neither I nor any of my friends aboard any of the other ships received short days as part of our Christmas leave plan. However, just across the harbour in Shearwater (as well as in Greenwood and Comox, I discovered), everyone in the Air Force received 2 short days as part of their Christmas leave plan. When I asked my pilot buddies why, they just said "I dunno, they just always do that."

Which thread would that be, may I ask?  :threat:

That;s funny as every year on my ship the CO granted 2 short for Christmas.

 

[MARS]

That;s funny as every year on my ship the CO granted 2 short for Christmas.

Wasn't there a year, maybe 2 years ago, that I didn't grant the 2 short?  I recall sometime circa 2013/14 that the direction from MARLANT was CMARL was specifically NOT granting short days and COs were encouraged to be judicious in their use at Xmas.  It was also around the same time that the repeated warnings about accumulating leave was only to be for operational reasons - and our 180-plus days at sea was not considered "operational reasons". Maybe I still did grant them because I didn't give a shit what HQ thought.

That was the year we had to start using short leave for the ship's Xmas party...remember?

 

[Stoker]

Wasn't there a year, maybe 2 years ago, that I didn't grant the 2 short?  I recall sometime circa 2013/14 that the direction from MARLANT was CMARL was specifically NOT granting short days and COs were encouraged to be judicious in their use at Xmas.  It was also around the same time that the repeated warnings about accumulating leave was only to be for operational reasons - and our 180-plus days at sea was not considered "operational reasons". Maybe I still did grant them because I didn't give a crap what HQ thought.

That was the year we had to start using short leave for the ship's Xmas party...remember?

Hey, that's right. I thought you did though. I know last year the new CO did. I agree through if someone has a lot of leave not taken for whatever reason, annual should be taken first. Nice to hear from you.

 

[Lumber]

That;s funny as every year on my ship the CO granted 2 short for Christmas.

Ok, so maybe I didn't have friends on all the ships. I guess I'm not quite as popular as I like tot hink...  ;D