§452 Allowable Travel and Transportation: General Authorities

Summary

Authorized members of the uniformed services and other approved travelers can get travel, hotel, meal payments or the actual costs paid when they travel for official military business, as the rules allow. This help covers many situations, including temporary duty trips, permanent change of station moves, consecutive overseas tour moves, recruiting, details to other agencies, rest or convalescent leave, reenlistment leave, Reserve training or muster when it’s outside normal commuting distance, emergencies or hardship, family travel for medical care or repatriation, attendance at Yellow Ribbon events or international sports, certain dependent education travel, travel when a member is assigned to a ship being overhauled or refueled, funerals, and similar cases the rules allow. Payments can pay fares, tolls, lodging, meals, relocation or dislocation allowances, passport and visa fees, and other related costs. Payment may be actual expenses, a set allowance, in-kind, or a mix. Travelers may get advance payments. If orders are canceled or changed, necessary expenses may still be paid. Unauthorized costs are not the United States’ responsibility. A Secretary cannot pay an expense that another government or non-government source must cover. For ship overhaul assignments, the member must be assigned 31 or more consecutive days for allowances to start on day 31 and then every 60 days, and dependent travel reimbursement cannot exceed one government round-trip. If a member travels more than 50 miles from their permanent residence for the Reserve training or muster, they are entitled to travel and meal/incidentals under the rules; the permanent residence must be set within 30 days after a permanent duty assignment and generally cannot be reset until new orders arrive, though the Secretary may allow reimbursements in some cases.