Travel expenses / First Duty

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Ddm66

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Nov 1, 2020
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My son is a new 2nd Lt. (Space Force) and next month will be traveling by personal car to report for his first duty / training.
He received his orders but they don’t clarify expense reimbursement from what I can tell so I have a couple of questions to ask of the forum on his behalf. If anyone can assist it would be appreciated.

What expenses are covered? I’m assuming miles at the federal rate and a Per diem to cover food and lodging.

-If thats accurate where can he find the current rate on both?

-Will he be required to submit receipts for gas and lodging ?

He was considering renting a Uhaul and towing the car. Would that be a covered expense ? If so what would be the mileage reimbursement in that case ?

Lastly, the orders state he can’t leave until Sunday 2/18. It’s going to be a long trip (coast to coast) so he planed to leave the day before but changed those plans after seeing that language. Is this somthing the military would actually be concerned with ?
Seems to me like it wouldn’t make a difference on way or the other but I have no knowledge on these things.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.
 
Ddm66 said:
My son is a new 2nd Lt. (Space Force) and next month will be traveling by personal car to report for his first duty / training.
He received his orders but they don’t clarify expense reimbursement from what I can tell so I have a couple of questions to ask of the forum on his behalf. If anyone can assist it would be appreciated.

What expenses are covered? I’m assuming miles at the federal rate and a Per diem to cover food and lodging.

-If thats accurate where can he find the current rate on both?

-Will he be required to submit receipts for gas and lodging ?

He was considering renting a Uhaul and towing the car. Would that be a covered expense ? If so what would be the mileage reimbursement in that case ?

Lastly, the orders state he can’t leave until Sunday 2/18. It’s going to be a long trip (coast to coast) so he planed to leave the day before but changed those plans after seeing that language. Is this somthing the military would actually be concerned with ?
Seems to me like it wouldn’t make a difference on way or the other but I have no knowledge on these things.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
Miles at the current rate which I'm not sure of the current number. Per Diem and don't forget Tolls and other necessary expenses like parking (?)
Meals do not require receipts - the per diem is flat rate. You do not get gas separately, it is part of the mileage rate and no receipts are required. Keep receipts for tolls, hotels and other miscellaneous expenses.
I do not know if the Uhaul is authorized, it would probably depend on the movement weight that is authorized. If Rotc commission, ask at the unit, if OCS, ask the admin people at OCS if covered. When Uhauls and the like are allowed, it is straight up expenses, not the regular mileage rate so receipts for the rental AND for gas.
 
Ddm66 said:
My son is a new 2nd Lt. (Space Force) and next month will be traveling by personal car to report for his first duty / training.
He received his orders but they don’t clarify expense reimbursement from what I can tell so I have a couple of questions to ask of the forum on his behalf. If anyone can assist it would be appreciated.

What expenses are covered? I’m assuming miles at the federal rate and a Per diem to cover food and lodging.

-If thats accurate where can he find the current rate on both?

-Will he be required to submit receipts for gas and lodging ?

He was considering renting a Uhaul and towing the car. Would that be a covered expense ? If so what would be the mileage reimbursement in that case ?

Lastly, the orders state he can’t leave until Sunday 2/18. It’s going to be a long trip (coast to coast) so he planed to leave the day before but changed those plans after seeing that language. Is this somthing the military would actually be concerned with ?
Seems to me like it wouldn’t make a difference on way or the other but I have no knowledge on these things.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
... so do not worry. Those DFAS folks perfected the art of processing Advanced Pay for thousands of new O1s reporting to their new stations:
*Lodging
*Transportation
*Personally Procured Moves
*Per Diem
*Temporary Lodging Expenses
*Dislocation Allowance
*Dependent Travel
*Advanced Payments
-----+--------+--------+-------+---------+----+
Note: The local travel office can sort/process all these out. And I'm sure he already visited the travel office for the third time to get all that mucho dineros $$$$$ or Euros 😇❄️😎.
 
Ddm66 said:
My son is a new 2nd Lt. (Space Force) and next month will be traveling by personal car to report for his first duty / training.
He received his orders but they don’t clarify expense reimbursement from what I can tell so I have a couple of questions to ask of the forum on his behalf. If anyone can assist it would be appreciated.

What expenses are covered? I’m assuming miles at the federal rate and a Per diem to cover food and lodging.

-If thats accurate where can he find the current rate on both?

-Will he be required to submit receipts for gas and lodging ?

He was considering renting a Uhaul and towing the car. Would that be a covered expense ? If so what would be the mileage reimbursement in that case ?

Lastly, the orders state he can’t leave until Sunday 2/18. It’s going to be a long trip (coast to coast) so he planed to leave the day before but changed those plans after seeing that language. Is this somthing the military would actually be concerned with ?
Seems to me like it wouldn’t make a difference on way or the other but I have no knowledge on these things.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
Disclaimer: I provide this for information, but the real answer is that he needs to ask his personnel, travel, and HHG offices that are going to process this. Hopefully the Space Force didn't get rid of them like the Navy did.

Generally:
$0.22/mile + standard CONUS per diem of $166 per day (lodging reimbursed based on actual expenses up to $107, rest paid).
MALT is the mileage entitlement: https://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/travelpay/armypcs/malt/, MALT+ includes the per diem: https://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/travelpay/armypcs/plusperdiem/#:~:text=Lodgings-Plus and MALT-Plus,member on the same date.
GSA sets per diem rates: https://www.gsa.gov/node/86696/fy-2024-per-diem-highlights
The first 400 miles is 1 travel day, each subsequent 350 miles is 1 additional travel day.
Distance traveled is based on the Defense Table of Official Distances: https://dtod.transport.mil/

He needs to check current joint and service policy. Policy changes often enough to need to check every time, gouge from someone who did the exact same move even just a few months ago may not be accurate.

Remember to request DLA and TLE (if desired, some will save the TLE for outgoing PCS on the other end or split it).

Renting the U-haul and doing a DITY or partial DITY is separate from PCS travel reimbursement and is handled with HHG reimbursement. There's a lot of information that would be needed to answer that one. He will be assigned a HHG counselor for that.
 
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Not sure if this is the case in the Space Force, but if it were Navy, he might be able to get his orders stamped when he checks out with admin that Friday with the sunday 2/18 date on there. (Some commands are more strict than others).
 
Not sure about space force rules but your son may want to check his orders to confirm if this is a PCS permanent change of station or TDY temporary duty move. Rules for reimbursement may be different if so.

Most new officers I know got a smaller U-Haul maybe 14 feet with a car trailer tow behind for their ride. Avoid the miles depreciation on your car for that long of a drive.

There are detailed instructions that spell all this out in fine detail. Did he not receive? Request if not. Good luck in the move.
 
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