Jcleppe has it correct if you take M-F, they will charge you the weekend, so it is not 5 days you are charged, but 7 days. As you learn the system you become wiser on how to use the system. Like Jcleppe stated about working M-F leave.
Leave is accrued by 2.5 days per month you serve retro. In other words on the 1st of May you earned the 2.5 days you served through April.
Additionally, they allow military members to roll over leave up to 60 days per yr. That is why it is common to hear people say they have use or lose, or they have to burn through their leave.
Lastly, there is a thing that is commonly referred to as desk drawer leave. You fill out the paperwork for a CYA purpose, but are not charged. Usually this is for a 3 day weekend deal (Thanksgiving as an example). Many times the base/post will have Friday as a family day, hence few are at work from Wed. afternoon until Monday a.m. So instead of charging, or worse yet members leaving without telling them, they allow desk drawer.
As far as how far they can travel, if I recall correctly it is @ 2 hrs or within state lines. I.E. In NJ you can get to NY or PA or DE within 2 hrs, hence why they state within state lines. A lot has to do with recall purposes and getting back in time for the task.
Bullet's O6 has a lake house that is 2 hours away, and he is down there every weekend during the summer. He is never charged for it because he is within the regs.
As far as work schedule, as scout pointed out in his LMAO post, it varies depending on the career field. The maintenance officer is not reporting at 8 when the 1st flight takes off at 8. They are a 24/7 operation, because when that last flight landed at 10, they had to turn the jet for the morning goes. The SP officer also works on Sat. and Sunday. Flip side you are not going to see the Personnel officer pull a duty day passed 4/4:30 because their job doesn't require it.
I recall when Hurricane Floyd came barreling into town (SJAFB was ground zero), they decided to Hurri-vac jets on a Sunday. The FC calls a young lt. and his wife answered the phone. She told the FC, it is Sunday, he doesn't work on Sunday and will be there tomorrow
Of course the FC had a few choice words to tell her, one being if he is not in the squadron within the next 90 minutes he will be considered AWOL, the other being he works 365 days a yr 24/7. He was in the squadron, but when he arrived it wasn't pleasant for him. Mainly because he got an earful from the FC/ADO/DO/SCC, but also because people were amazed at his wife and her belief that he didn't work on the weekends, plus her feeling free to talk in that manner to his direct boss.
Hurricane Floyd kept them at WP for 11 days (runway was 10 feet underwater). Floyd occurred only a few days after they had returned from Hurri-vaccing for Dennis. In a 4 week spread they were gone almost every weekend. That is why I say it all depends on the job, and that to enter thinking even as a flyer weekends are yours in a non-wartime scenario, it is not true. They can recall you back to base at any given moment. Hence, they own you 52 weeks a yr, 24/7.
