Originally Posted by
sailingfun
All it basically said was they would start tracking mil leave in accordance with the 5 year limit. Prior to that Delta ignored the limit. Heard a rumor the change came because of complaints from pilots that mil leave guys were returning after going over the limit who should have been removed from the list. I suspect the truth is Delta perhaps thought enforcing the limit would reduce total mil leave.
Such a policy would have very minimal impact from 2010-present... virtually all AD orders would be exempt from the five-year limit due to OCO/GWOT/ONE. Navy at least writes them all as invol anyway, even if you informally "volunteer" for assignment. I can only think of a few niche jobs, plus perhaps some ANG jobs which would not be exempt.
In the future perhaps it will be harder to obtain exempt orders.
But if anyone is worried about the five-year limit, you need to get real smart on the rules. Involuntary orders are always exempt. Most orders linked to operations are exempt. Orders which support operations indirectly are usually exempt (ex. IP training squadron members to deploy for real-world ops).
Among other complexities, orders DO NOT have to state that they are exempt, or invol, in order to be exempt. That's a nice feature that some organizations add to orders to smooth the process for their members but it has led some employers to conclude that the absence of such language means the orders are not exempt, which is usually incorrect.