Dealing w/ Death at UPT

[Guest bussman]

Has anyone ever experienced a death in the family or had a classmate deal w/ a death while at UPT?

How does the Air Force/IP react to something like this?

[Guest SpectrePilot]

Tell your flight commander and get emergency leave-- it's that simple. With today's safety culture, you can actually get yourself in a worse jam if you keep your mouth shut and go fly with something like that on your mind. The "leave your problems on the ground" attitude is highly frowned upon nowadays.

[Sneedro]

Had a guy in my class have a situation like that. Told the flight commander and took leave. He had no problems at all getting leave for the funeral. When he returned from leave it was like he was never gone. Just dont expect to take much more leave than is absolutely needed.

[TacAirCoug]

I had a similar situation happen to me the day I hit the flightline in Tweets...A very close friend was killed in a T-34 crash over by P-cola. I talked to my Flt CC and got a day to get my s*** together, then stepped back in front of the firehose. The leadership was willing to work with me even though he wasn't a family member. If he had been family, I have no doubt that they would have been much more accomodating. I would expect it to be no different elsewhere.

[M2]

Military Emergency Leave

Emergency leave is leave granted as a result of an emergency situation that requires the member’s presence. It is chargeable leave.

Commander

The approval authority is the unit commander who can delegate to the first sergeant to approve emergency leave for enlisted members.

When necessary, unit commander or first sergeant may request assistance from the American Red Cross (ARC) to verify emergency situations. Document the emergency situation, obtain Statements of Reimbursements when necessary, and request members provide any documentation available to support unverified situations.

Unit commanders authorize emergency leave travel for members stationed overseas, members with overseas domiciles, and members who are on temporary duty (TDY) in or outside the continental United States. Complete the AF IMT 972, Request and Authorization for Emergency Leave, for all funded emergency leave travel. Use the AF IMT 988 according to DFAS-DEM 7073.2.

Reference JFTR for authorized travel. Authorized travel is to (A) to either (1) the international airport in the CONUS closest to the location from which the member and member's dependent's departed; or (2) any other CONUS airport that is closer to the traveler's destination if the cost of the transportation to the other airport is less than the cost of the transportation to that international airport, or (B) to an airport in Alaska, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any possession of the United States, or any other location OCONUS, as determined by the Secretary concerned.

Make sure members contact the TMO or commercial travel office for travel arrangements because failure to do so can result in non-reimbursement of travel costs.

Commanders or first sergeants approve initial periods of emergency leave for no more than 30 days and extensions for no more than 30 additional days.

Members

Submit the AF IMT 988 when requesting emergency leave and not authorized funded emergency travel for personal or family emergencies involving the immediate family:

Member's spouse, the member's or spouse's parents (including stepparents), children (including illegitimate children and stepchildren), brothers, sisters, sole surviving blood relative, or person who stood in loco parentis. Loco parentis is any other person who stood in place of a parent to the member or the spouse at any time for a period of at least five years before he or she became 21 years of age.

Send requests to HQ AFPC/DPFFOC if requested leave results in a cumulative negative balance of over 30 days or if taking leave for 60 or more days.

[source]

The Red Cross can really expedite things in situations such as these...

Cheers! M2

[Guest bussman]

How would that work...say you had to miss a full week of training? Seems like there would be no way to catch up. I understand you will be approved leave, Im just more concerned on the training situation.

[C17Driver]

It'll take some work (double turn, etc), but you'll be able to catch up if you're early enough along in training. If it comes late in the game and you aren't able to catch up, then they'll just wash you back a class and you graduate with them.

[Guest shawty]

Over here at CSO (nav) training, we just had a guy take emergency leave. Not sure how UPT works but I'm sure it's similar. He is just rolled back in to the next class (which cycle every three weeks). Sucks but is well worth it to be with your family/friends in hard times.

Shawty

[Guest THE10MAN]

All true statements. I will always fight for my students to get the time off they need in these cases. Ultimately, it's the the Sq/CC's call, and then we either do what it takes to get them caught up or wash them back. It's that simple.

[Scooter14]

Washing back sucks, but it sure beats washing out. If things get too hectic with commitments to family, health problems, death in the family, whatever, TALK TO YOUR SRO AND FLT CC and let them know what is going on. Don't try to be the hero and think you can take on the world. Get the time you need to get your feces consolidated, and press on from there. If it means washing back, so be it.

[Guest bussman]

Good points. Im glad to see that they work w/ you. I was just worried b/c of my fathers health...not really the best time to have something like that to happen.

[Guest jk227]

I was in Columbus last year and my dad died 2 days before my class began. Needless to say, they ended up pushing me back to another class.

If something like this happens, you can pretty well bet that they will do everything they can to ensure you will be taken care of. Whether that is a wash back or late start date or anything else, they all want the best for you.

[Guest hockeymv]

As much as UPT is hard on you, if you let your leadership know, they WILL help you out. My grandfather died (obviously not the same, but family nonetheless) during Phase I of Tweets. I found out during the week and was on a plane out of town on Friday for the funeral. I was back Sunday and ready to rock Monday AM, so I didn't wash back, but they are definitely willing to work with you.

Best of luck!

[Guest T38driver]

goat9,

Concur with all the above. Keep your SRO and Flt/CC in the loop and they will help you. Your Flt/CC will probably inform the Sqdn/CC right away, which is a good thing. Just like others have said, everyone wants you to succeed, and they will do everything they can to help you out. In most cases, even if you miss a week, you'll still gradaute on time.

[Guest angrymonkey]

goat9:

I went through exactly the same situation as you. My parent passed away during UPT just before my midphase checkride due to a terminal illness (cancer). Looking back at my experience, I would definetly inform my Flight Commander, let him/her know about the situation, and let them know that you may have to take emergency leave fast.

The emergency leave process was fast atleast in my case, all the IP's helped me out. You should be able to get home within 24 hours or less in most cases. If the situation starts getting bad, don't hesitate in taking leave (even negative leave), you definetly don't want someone to pass away before you had a chance to get there.

Washing back a class is pretty insignificant in the long run. I was out of tweets for 30 days (due to Xmas holidays and my leave). They gave me around 3-4 '86' rides to catch up, and I was back up to speed without any problems. I ended up washing back one class, which is meaningless in the long run...

Email me if you have any questions.

[Flare]

Originally posted by goat9:

How would that work...say you had to miss a full week of training? Seems like there would be no way to catch up. I understand you will be approved leave, Im just more concerned on the training situation.

Concur with all of the above.....just want to add that I've seen guys miss 3-4 weeks of training and still graduate with their class. Obviously, the later in a particular phase it happens, the more likely you would be to wash back. But, like angrymonkey said, washing back is really insignificant in the long run. Your wings don't have your class # engraved on them, and even if they did, it wouldn't matter!

I had a Dutch bro in my class in the same situation..his dad died and he went home to Holland for several weeks and still stayed with our class.

[ 22. November 2005, 22:40: Message edited by: ENJJPT IP ]

[Guest SPO]

- Thread Revival -

Is emergency leave charged against your normal leave balance?

AFI 36-3003 says: 6.5. Emergency Leave. Emergency leave is chargeable leave granted for personal or family emergencies involving the immediate family.

I know this should be pretty cut and dry but I swear I've heard people say emergency leave isn't chargeable. Anyone know? I'm TDY OCONUS and may have to exercise this option.

Edited September 21, 2008 by SPO

[budderbar]

Is emergency leave charged against your normal leave balance?

Yes, it is charged against normal leave. If you have to take more leave than your current balance you will go negative if approved by your CC.

[itsokimapilot]

- Thread Revival -

Is emergency leave charged against your normal leave balance?

AFI 36-3003 says: 6.5. Emergency Leave. Emergency leave is chargeable leave granted for personal or family emergencies involving the immediate family.

I know this should be pretty cut and dry but I swear I've heard people say emergency leave isn't chargeable. Anyone know? I'm TDY OCONUS and may have to exercise this option.

Yes, Emergency leave is chargable leave. The point of emergency leave is to allow CCs to get you home when they may not otherwise be able to ie UPT, Deployment, too many pilots on leave already. So, if you need to take leave because of a death, illness etc in your family you can take emergency leave. It goes against your leave balance. Good luck SPO.

[M2]

- Thread Revival -

Is emergency leave charged against your normal leave balance?

AFI 36-3003 says: 6.5. Emergency Leave. Emergency leave is chargeable leave granted for personal or family emergencies involving the immediate family.

I know this should be pretty cut and dry but I swear I've heard people say emergency leave isn't chargeable. Anyone know? I'm TDY OCONUS and may have to exercise this option.

SPO

I'm sorry to hear that you may have to take emergency leave, but if that does happen the sooner you get the ball rolling the better. I hope you've kept your SRO/Flt CC informed of your situation, so they can be prepared to act if necessary. Also, as stated emergency leave is chargeable; but being on emergency leave status gets you priority on both military and some civilian flights, so if you need to get somewhere quickly, I would recommend using it. That is why the military has it.

Go back and read the reg blurb I posted earlier in this thread, it will help you be prepared as well.

Best of luck to you, and I hope everything works out.

Cheers! M2

[Guest SPO]

Thanks for the advice guys, I appreciate it.

Press on.

[Guest Flying_Bulldog]

I can speak on this because I just had to exercise this option. I'm in UPT right now and 1 1/2 months ago my mom died. I found out just as I was putting on my bag and getting ready to go in. I called my FLT/CC and he just told me to come back when I felt ready. I never touched a single bit of paperwork. I got several calls from my FLT/CC and others and they just filled in the paperwork with what I told them. I was home for a week before I came back. The leave still counted.

As far as getting behind...I was pretty lucky in the sense that the week I was gone, the weather sucked as SPS so there wasn't too much flying anyways. The day I got back, I double turned, and very shortly after I was completely caught up.

For those with people under your command...my FLT/CC was purely awesome. Not only did he make the process really easy for me, he kept calling while I was home just to check in and see how I was doing. Also, the day it happened, everyone else in my flight showed up to work only to be told that no one was flying today and they needed to come hang out with me before my flight left later in the day. You have no idea how that made me feel. He also was able to get my best friend (also in my class) leave to come back and just hang out with me and help out. That is the kind of leadership that you will never forget.