Can I request leave time as a plebe

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Mai66

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I haven’t really found a direct yes or no answer to this question so if anyone has found it or knows personally please let me know!
 
Mai66 said:
I haven’t really found a direct yes or no answer to this question so if anyone has found it or knows personally please let me know!
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As an active duty military member in a formal course of instruction, your leave periods are set by the academic calendar:
Thanksgiving
Winter break/Christmas
Spring Break
Usually a 3-week personal leave block scheduled among mandatory and elective training blocks over the summer.
Sometimes a few days of inter-sessional leave in between end of semester exams and required events to prepare for summer training, Commissioning Week and other major evolutions.

Emergency leave: Death or critical illness of an immediate family member (parent or sibling). USNA understands the closeness of some grandparents or other non-immediate family members, and may choose to grant leave.

Leave for any personal reason. Just like the Fleet and Corps, there is a process. Policy, precedent, the midshipman’s academic health and impact of missed classes and other mandatory evolutions, and the chain of command’s evaluation of the request, all come into play. The bottom line - is the request exceptional enough to merit approval.

Military people miss family weddings, birthdays, graduations, reunions, births of children, other special events, frequently, especially if assigned to operational duty or deployed. Military people in formal training courses are usually not allowed to go on leave except at scheduled times. If the needs of the Navy outweigh the personal wants of the military member, that is part of the life.

That said, each special leave request is handled on its merits.

And, leave is different than liberty. Town liberty is the ability to go off-Yard within a certain radius. Weekend liberty with overnights is something that can be earned, either by increased privileges with each year of seniority as a midshipman or through meeting certain criteria.

Here is a link to USNA calendar:
www.usna.edu

Academic Term Calendars

Academic Term Calendars page for Academics at USNA.edu. Updated Wed Apr 03 14:22:10 EDT 2024.
www.usna.edu
 
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And, if you want to know where the majority of rules, regulations and policies for USNA midshipmen reside, you will become exceptionally familiar with MidRegs, otherwise known as USNA Midshipman Regulations.

You can google them. Just be sure to look for the most recent, current version. Ever since Moses was a mid and took his first summer cruise on the Nile in USS BASKET, MidRegs have governed mid lives.
 
OP, I hope you weren’t thinking of asking for leave during Plebe Summer. I believe that is an emergency leave only period. The entire point of PS is the class comes in together and spends every day of that intense period together, learning to work as a team.
 
Thank you for your answers I figured as much lol 🥲 my uncles wedding is the first week of December but I feel like it’s too close to the actual winter break to ever get approved I also don’t really know if plebes have the ability to request leave like how strict the process is since it’s your first year at the academy. I’m still going to do my own research ofc so I appreciate the links and narrowing down where to look 🤗
 
If uncle’s wedding is close to Annapolis, such that you could go Saturday and return Sunday, that would be an easier ask than, for example, asking to go to a destination wedding in the Dominican Republic. I don’t see missing class for an uncle’s wedding, unless the uncle is your guardian.
 
This ^^.

You will be able to take "weekends" for liberty which will allow you to leave after your last military obligation (usually noon formation on Saturday) and return by end of liberty on Sunday, which is typically 1800. But ...... you are limited to a 150 mile radius from the chapel dome for weekend liberty (versus the 35 miles for normal town liberty).

As long as you are in good academic and conduct standing, things can be pretty flexible. That will all be up to your chain of command though, so your mileage may vary.
 
Mai66 said:
Thank you for your answers I figured as much lol 🥲 my uncles wedding is the first week of December but I feel like it’s too close to the actual winter break to ever get approved I also don’t really know if plebes have the ability to request leave like how strict the process is since it’s your first year at the academy. I’m still going to do my own research ofc so I appreciate the links and narrowing down where to look 🤗
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Plebe? Week/weekend before exams and Army Week? Uncle’s Wedding? Highly unlikely. If you are struggling at all, most definitely not. I’m assuming it’s a plane ride away. If it’s closer, you might make a Saturday wedding, possibly get permission to return later or on Sunday. That would be liberty, not leave. You’ll figure all this out eventually.

Get through Plebe Summer. See how you feel a month into the academic year. You will be among 1200 new friends, also missing special events while trying to survive the first of 8 semesters in the pressure cooker.
 
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Once you start the program and are a plebe @ USNA, there will be ample opportunity to learn about how 'leave' works and what is/isn't a consideration. It is only May and you indicated your uncles wedding isn't until December, so you will have plenty of time to learn how this all works.
 
Mai66 said:
Thank you for your answers I figured as much lol 🥲 my uncles wedding is the first week of December but I feel like it’s too close to the actual winter break to ever get approved I also don’t really know if plebes have the ability to request leave like how strict the process is since it’s your first year at the academy. I’m still going to do my own research ofc so I appreciate the links and narrowing down where to look 🤗
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My mid missed his brothers wedding Plebe year. It happens. Consider it the first of many. Now deployed and missed the birth of his niece. Service is sacrifice 💙💪🏼⚓️
 
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