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Editorial: Give troops their leave

On April 18, Pentagon personnel chief David S.C. Chu announced details of a new plan to compensate combat troops who are deployed longer or more often than Pentagon policy permits.

He ordered the services to send him their implementation plans no later than April 30. Yet as of June 21, more than seven weeks later, not one word more has been heard about this issue.

Service officials dislike the idea of giving extra compensation to troops for what is, after all, their ultimate purpose — deploying for war.

That’s why, when the program launches — assuming it does — the compensation will not be in the form of cash, but rather in extra days of leave, with the number of days depending on how many months a service member is deployed or mobilized beyond Defense Department policy goals.

The program is not without flaws. For example, using the extra leave could be problematic for reservists.

Unlike active-duty troops, who theoretically could take the leave anytime, reservists must either arrange to have their orders extended at the tail end of a mobilization or jump through administrative hoops to be mobilized at some later time — solely to use the leave.

Still, the plan is a gesture of recognition and appreciation for service members and their families who are bearing the heavy burden of deployments.

Or it would be, if it ever takes effect.

More than five months have passed since Defense Secretary Robert Gates first spoke of this initiative, and troops are streaming off deployments and mobilizations every day. Gates and Chu must turn up the heat and demand that the services detail their implementation plans and put this policy into action.