Permissive Temporary Duty

Hey Jason!!
 
You wrote in part and asked me:

“First of all, let me lead of by saying thank you for the countless hours of volunteer work you have given the BSA.  I am heavily into Scouting.  I have been a DL in all dens, served as Cubmaster, and am now in the process of starting a brand new Troop so I can certainly appreciate the hours you have put in!!”
 
Thank YOU for your Scouting service to your Pack and hopefully to your successful Troop!!
 
The question I have for you is probably going to be a NO answer since I have had little luck finding anything online.  I thought while I was on AD I had heard about a program where a soldier could go TDY to help out at Scout Camp or other Scout functions but haven’t been able to find anything on that. ”
 
What you are talking about is called “Permissive Temporary Duty” or PTDY.  It applies to all branches of the Armed Forces, and applies to enlisted, non-commissioned, warrant and commissioned officers of all of the services.  I’m going to speak to the ARMY portion, since you and I are both Army folk — and because I have the most understanding and knowledgable information with regard to how the Army works PTDY.
 
Permissive Temporary Duty first is NON-PAID. If you are on active duty, you receive NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS for being in that catagory during the period of time.  It is also NON CHARGEABLE LEAVE, which means that the period you spend on Permissive TDY, your leave account does not get “dinged” nor do you “lose” days. 
 
Basically, what the civilian world calls “Authorized Leave without Pay”, the Army does “Permissive TDY.”
 
The guidance for granting such a leave is found within the Army’s leave, pass and temporary duty regulation — AR600-8-10 (previously it was covered under AR 631-5).  The Army defines it as:
 
“A nonchargeable absence granted to attend or participate in activities of semi-official nature which benefit the Department of the Army.”
 
And here’s the paragraphs which explains IN DETAIL the requirements for granting PTDY:
 
Chapter 5
Nonchargeable Leaves and Absences
Section XVI
Permissive Temporary Duty

5–31. Permissive temporary duty approval authority:
a. Commanders of units, normally commanded by officers in the rank of lieutenant colonel or higher are authorized to approve, when period of absence is 10 days or less.
b. Commanders in the grade of colonel and above must approve an absence for attendance at private organization meetings (see AR 1–211).
c. Commanders having general court-martial authority (GCM) and major Army commanders (two-star or higher) are authorized to approve up to 30 days except as provided in 5–32l.
 
5–32. Permissive temporary duty authorization:
k. To participate in scouting activities under the following conditions:
(1) Participation must support a federally chartered, national scouting organization.
(2) Absence must be relatively short, normally 14 days or less. The GCM authority is the approval authority for 11 through 30 days.
(3) The Soldier must be an adult scout leader or supervisor on a continuing basis.
(4) Must be for logistical support functions, including such functions as mess, sanitation, or medical support.
(5) PTDY is not authorized for counselor or instructor positions unless a senior local government official certifies, in writing, that the service cannot be procured or is not available locally from community resources. The local commander will approve or disapprove the request based on resource availability and the assessed impact on the primary defense mission. Approved support will be provided in compliance with applicable policies. (See AR 360–1 and DODD 5500.7–R.)
 
(Council Scout Executives are considered “senior local governmental officials”)
 
The paperwork which needs to be filled out is a regular leave form.  Some commands have a special form that they have generated. Still other commands — including the Army Reserve — have just “cut” a set of orders directing me to “permissive temporary duty ” reporting to the “Director, JY Brown Scout Reservation, New City, Kentucky” or wherever I was to work at.  They also “zero out” the funding lines so that it is not chargable to anyone’s funding line nor is is chargable to anyone’s leave account.  This is IMPORTANT — the Army Reserve, like all other components of the military, are not going to pay you to participate in a LOCAL COUNCIL event or activity just because you’re a long term Scouter — there has to be *some benefit* to the Army/Army Reserve/that command.  They WILL however, allow you to go perform temporary (unpaid) duty as a volunteer under this regulation.
 
I feel, however, what you are looking for is a Temporary Duty (TDY) assignment working at a Scout camp.  Those days are gone — way gone.  The days in which the Army or its sister services would *pay* us to work a couple of weeks at a Scout camp is long gone. There are TWO BIG EXCEPTIONS to this.
 
ONE — as lined above, you find a camp which is is need of an IT person (you can only doing this in your PRIMARY Military Occupational Speciality — not as a “general joe”) and are willing to request you by name to work at their camp or facility.  One year as a Captain, I was able to work at a Scout camp in the Northwest because they were looking for a public affairs/marketing person who knew websites and how they operated.  I spent three weeks at the camp creating a shell for their website and teaching their staff folks in how to populate, take photos and upload them to a FTP site, and how to maintain the site.
 
TWO — as part of a joint or single-service task force supporting a national-level Scouting event.  The last one the Department of Army was a part of was for the Centennial National Scout Jamboree.  Don’t look for anyone to approve this (it would be approved at the two-star grade level) until 2019 in support of the World Jamboree at the Summit.
 
If you are looking to substitute your training period, may I recommend something to you?  Each summer, the BSA hosts a series of week-long training courses at the Philmont Volunteer Training Center. These courses are designed to train those individuals who will return back to your Council to train and coach others in that particular area. The BSA is hosting a week long Social Media and a week long marketing course this summer.
For more information on those courses — dates, costs, etc. — go to http://www.philmontscoutranch.org/PTC.aspx  It is quite possible that your command may pay you to attend the volunteer training courses in lieu of your regular annual training period. You will have to attend in Scout uniform for the duration and your orders must mention that this is a Scouting training course — and of course, depending on your command’s finnacial situation, you may have to give up the per diem associated with temporary duty in New Mexico for a week or two.
 
Hope this helps…and good luck on whatever you decide on doing!!
 
Settummanque!