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Provides a portal to post, find and volunteer for Active Duty tours. Tour of Duty (TOD) is a system for advertising AD opportunities where RC Soldiers can look for available tours that match their skills and desire to serve. Soldiers can volunteer for consideration for the tours and the hiring commands can screen and recommend interested candidates as part of the TOD process. Soldiers recommended to fill the tours sign automatically generated request packets in DAMPS-A.

Soldiers that would like to volunteer for mobilizations should contact their unit and ask to be added to the G1 MOB Volunteer list.

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How Long Is A Tour Of Duty In The Military?

The U.S. military utilizes a tour of duty system to rotate personnel to various locations, serving different functions as a means of fulfilling missions and allowing service members a broader experience.

This system enables efficiency and organization in terms of each branch of the Armed Forces and its resources — including service members.

All military personnel are eligible for a tour of duty, depending on their unit, position, military occupational specialty, and many other factors.

Here is an explanation of how long a tour of duty is in the military.

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Table of Contents

What Is Considered A Tour Of Duty In The Military?

A military tour of duty (TOD) refers to a period of time in which personnel from one or more of the Armed Forces branches are deployed or stationed outside the U.S., usually overseas.

You may also see a Tour of Duty called a Deployment. They are both orders issued for a specific purpose or mission and both have a defined time period.

This is sometimes confused with a “TDY” — or Temporary Duty orders . Generally, a TDY is a short-term assignment for the purpose of training or performing administrative duties such as audits and inspections. 

A Tour of Duty or Deployment typically means that service members are temporarily relocated from their base to a different region for mission-related activities.

Such regions are generally located in another country and frequently in areas of combat or hostile environments.

Tours of duty set up a method for rotating military personnel so that human resources are not over-stretched in these conditions.

Before a service member is issued with Tour of Duty or Deployment orders, they must complete basic training within their branch.

They must also undergo any additional unit or individual training that is required.

When service members are not assigned to a tour of duty, they perform their jobs and duties at the post or base where they are stationed.

How Long Is A Tour Of Duty?

In the U.S. military, the length of a tour of duty depends on the branch of the Armed Forces, the reason for deployment, location of tour, and mission of the unit.

Each military branch requires different time spent “in the field” which means active training and/or undertaking an active mission.

For example, certain branches such as the Army may face more active combat situations than members of the Navy.

Therefore, the duration of tours of duty vary between the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Different military branches and their sections determine the timing of a tour of duty.

Note that the Department of Defense has policies indicating the maximum length of any assignment based on the location, the mission, and whether the orders include family members.

Related Article – Which Branch Of The Military Should I Join?

A tour of duty in the Army to a combat zone is typically between 6 and 12 months, though in some cases it is extended to 15 months.

Deployment tours are dependent on the needs and demands of the Army.

In general, soldiers are eligible for two weeks of leave, known as “R&R” (rest and relaxation), after six months of deployment in a combat zone.

A tour of duty to a non-combat zone overseas may be 12 to 36 months.

If a soldier is assigned an “accompanied” tour of duty overseas, in which dependents and family members go along as well, the time period can be as long as 36 months.

Soldiers with dependents that serve “unaccompanied” tours overseas, in which family members do not go along, are usually in-country for 12 months.

Single soldiers (with no dependents) that are assigned to places such as Europe or Japan typically spend 36 months in tour duration.

In these cases, many service members request extensions to remain in these assignments. This may or may not be approved.

The Army considers several aspects in determining tour of duty length for overseas service.

These aspects include:

• Readiness of overseas units
• Stability for soldiers and their families in certain locations
• Stability for commanders in reducing the need for training new soldiers

In the Navy, a tour of duty indicates the period of time spent at sea, performing operational duties.

These duties may include:

• Fleet responsibilities
• Service in a foreign country

A naval tour of duty is part of a rotation that may include a six-month tour on a ship at sea and one month for maintenance in home port with time for training and/or exercises.

Then, there is usually a return to tour of duty at sea for another 6 months.

Most overseas tours for members of the U.S. Navy are limited to two or three years.

However, for naval military personnel assigned to Japan, Guam, and some other areas, tour lengths may last as long as four years.

In some cases, sailors that extend their tour of duty by a year may receive preferential consideration for their next location.

This incentive is offered to enhance the strength and stability of naval forces.

Similar to the Army, a typical tour of duty for Air Force personnel is 12 months in a combat zone.

Most enlisted USAF personnel are not normally involved in direct combat operations, however, which means most tours of duty are usually classified as either accompanied or non-accompanied. 

In this case, accompanied tours are usually for 24-36 months and unaccompanied for 12-24. The timespan will vary depending on the location.

For Air Force pilots and other aircrew members (flight engineers, navigators, loadmasters, etc.), the length of a tour of duty is mission-based. 

USAF members directly assigned to aircraft often do take part in combat missions, although they’re far more mobile than Army forces. Therefore, a tour of duty could be 12-24 months flying out of an installation in a contested region.

It could also be only a month or two providing airlift or air-to-air refueling, flying out of a base in a friendly country (such as Germany, Turkey, or Japan).

On the other hand, it could also mean an accompanied PCS to one of these long-established overseas locations for 36 months. 

Marine Corps

Marine Corps service members typically experience tours of duty overseas between 6 and 12 months, depending on the type of mission.

For example, a Unit Deployment Program (UDP) lasts 6 months, reducing the number of unaccompanied tours for individual Marines.

A deployment for a Marine Air-Ground Task Force lasts up to 6 months and is mission-specific to establish overt U.S. military presence in certain areas.

Marines can also be assigned a tour of duty as an Individual Augmentee.

This takes place when a service member with specific skills is sent to join another military operation for up to 12 months.

Units of Marines can also deploy for combat operations.

In these cases, the tour of duty duration is dependent on the military’s needs in engagement with enemy forces.

However, the length is limited by DoD policy, based on the location.

Conus-side, a stateside tour of duty for Marines is generally 36 months or 3 years. 

Related Article – Easiest Branch Of The Military

Factors That Influence Tour Of Duty Duration

In addition to a service member’s branch, there are other factors that influence how long a military tour of duty may last.

Since many TODs are spent in hazardous and/or unfriendly areas, away from family and comforts of home, the pressure and toll they take on military members can be significant.

This is why the military coordinates rotating of personnel as effectively as possible.

The goal is to avoid exhaustion and other risks involved in constant action and to attempt to preserve mental and physical health.

Individual service members may face longer or more frequent TODs depending on their experience and expertise.

Depending on the roles that military personnel play in the field, as well as the amount of stress and pressure they face, some tours are longer than others.

Other influential factors include:

• Military occupation
• Mission requirements
• Prior service experience
• Type of unit
• Available resources

Additionally, the reasons for deployment and the location are influential factors that affect the duration of a tour of duty.

For example, active combat missions are generally shorter than tours of duty for the purpose of training exercises or peace-keeping missions.

Related Article – How To Switch From Reserves To Active Duty

Different branches of the U.S. military assign various tours of duty of different duration, depending on many factors and circumstances.

When a military tour of duty is concluded, the service member is generally assigned to a regular duty station or post.

In addition, the service member is ineligible for another tour of duty for a certain period of time.

This ineligibility allows for a break, and recovery, from the intense pressure and action faced by military members that are associated with many deployments and overseas tours.

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Guard and Reserve Members Will Be Able to Access Job Board from Personal Devices

There's not a lot members of Congress can agree on these days, but one issue that brought Democrats and Republicans together was allowing military members in the National Guard and Reserve to find active-duty gigs more easily.

Both sides of the aisle came together to put a provision into the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, allowing those troops to access the Tour of Duty online job board from their smartphones and other personal devices. Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, joined Reps. Chris Jacobs, R-N.Y., and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, in pushing for the addition.

The Tour of Duty online job board is a database of active-duty orders and deployments, and usually features some 2,000 job listings. The Army has more than 500,000 Guard and Reserve members who can search the site and apply, but only through the use of a government computer. The provision passed in the 2022 NDAA will soon allow them to access the site using a "personal internet-enabled device."

The NDAA also extends the amount of time these troops can spend on temporary active duty for operational support orders (ADOS) from three out of every four years to five out of every six.

Without the new provision, users who want to search the database would have to make their way to their duty station to use a government device if they didn't have one at home. The new law also says the Army is responsible for the security of the website, which informs users about the Army's staffing shortages.

Tour of Duty is open to all Reserve Component soldiers to browse and volunteer. Any Army command with positions or missions available can post those jobs on the site. Soldiers must find jobs that not only match their skills, but also match their pay grade.

Soldiers can even post their availability and interest for active-duty tours. Commands looking for Reserve Component soldiers to fill vacancies can see soldiers' names, grades and military occupational specialty (MOS) in a pool of volunteers. If a soldier is selected from Tour of Duty, they can choose to accept or decline.

Once accepted, the soldier signs a voluntary request for active duty, but must still be approved by the soldier's chain of command. The application is then sent to be transferred into official orders. The process usually takes 30-60 days.

A pilot program is expected to be released in the coming weeks, outlining procedures for soldiers to bring personal devices into their workspaces.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at [email protected] . He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook .

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How the Army is coding its own solution for the Tour of Duty jobs website

By Jackson Barnett

January 6, 2022

To comply with new federal law mandating website accessibility for the Army’s job postings, the department is turning to its own soldier-coders instead of contractors.

Software developers at the Army Software Factory have been coding a web-based application for Army reservists and National Guard members to access a job board known as “Tour of Duty.” The website remains locked in Army networks, only accessible on government-owned equipment — essentially blocking most reservists and guardsmen from seeing what opportunities there are for active duty assignments.

“Tour of Duty is not accessible and that is the most painful point,” said Lt. Rachelle David, product manager for the software factory’s web-based app, which it’s calling “Carrera.”

The fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act mandates that within a year the website be fully accessible on personal devices. That’s where the Army Software Factory comes in. For the past four months, a team of developers and product managers has been working with other soldiers to design an app that would be both user-friendly and meet the letter of the law.

“[We are] very excited to see that in the NDAA,” David added.

What they have developed so far is a beta version that should be accessible to the entire Army within the next few weeks. Once the initial version is released, the team plans to continuously update to fix bugs and user issues.

When product managers at the factory accepted the problem statement from Army headquarters, their first step was talking to interview soldiers and hiring managers that use the job board. They learned one of the most important things was for it to be mobile-optimized, as many reservists and guardsmen preferred to scroll on their phones rather than search on desktops for volunteer assignments.

“What we are currently developing [is] a tool that anyone can access on commercial internet,” David said. (Anyone with a CAC-card or Army login credentials, that is.)

Made by soldiers

Soldiers like Lt. Sydney Hall, the senior developer, and David are a part of the first cohort of developers at the factory. By being first in the system, they were a part of laying much of the foundation for how the organization works within its tech development stack, said the software factory’s director, Lt. Col. Vito Errico.

Errico added that due to Carrera being a product from the first cohort, the timeline of the app’s development was largely dictated not by the coding skill of the developers but the Army’s policies for how to handle software and cybersecurity.

The software factory was still in the process of accrediting its stack while the code was being written, putting more burden on the development process to meet the needs of cyber risk management policy.

“The cybersecurity policy in the Army is set up in the legacy mindset,” Errico said.

The team works off of VMWare’s Tanzu development stack. Much of the layers, from the platform to development environment, have been accredited as secure, giving Errico hope of faster turn around times for future products. In other cases — like when the Army contracts with a company to build an app — the app itself needs to go through the accreditation process instead of authorizing the infrastructure used to make the app as secure.

“We practice this idea, if you accredit the infrastructure, platform and app layer you are dwindling the amount of risk controls the developer has to be responsible for,” Errico said.

The Tour of Duty system is also an Army-owned entity, meaning its source code was much more accessible than if it had been licensees IP from a contractor. Errico said the factory has developed some “fun workarounds” when IP issues get thorny, but the ability to access source code helped their app come to life.

“It was not easy,” he said of working with current Army tech policy.

Data, data, data

The app aims to not only help end users looking for jobs, but also provide data to leaders who post on the listing. By tracking applications, traffic and other metrics, the app will be a source of both tactical and strategic insights, said Capt. Austin Herrling. the Army Software Factory’s chief data officer.

The goal “is to make our data available to the Army,” Herrling said.

The idea is inline with strategic Army and DOD documents  that aim to make data a “strategic asset” instead of just bytes taking up space in servers.

From the rest of the year the Army Software Factory plans to continue to update the app and take the lessons learned in developing it to other projects it has. Factory leaders’ inbox are full of problem statements from across the organization, not all of which they can solve but Errico hopes with more cohorts and teams of soldiers who can code, software will be a larger part of the Army quiver.

“It speaks a lot toward building something that is completely new inside the Army,” he said.

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Guard, Reserve soldiers can now browse active duty jobs on their phones

Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers looking to secure their next stint on active duty orders are now able to do so from their own couches — and on their own mobile devices — thanks to Carrera , a new app developed by the Army Software Factory in Austin, Texas.

The app was developed to satisfy an order from Congress in the fiscal 2022 defense bill that  required the Army to make mobilization opportunities for reserve component troops available for browsing on personal devices. Previously, the opportunities were only accessible through the NIPR network-only Tour of Duty portal.

At any given moment, the Army is trying to fill hundreds, if not thousands, of temporary active duty tours with reservists.

But in late 2017, the portal for searching those vacancies moved onto the government network, meaning that Guard and Reserve troops without take-home government computers could only browse and apply for those vacancies from an armory. That put a burden on some who live hours away from where they serve.

The new app goes beyond the order, though, and delivers an unprecedented level of access: soldiers will now be able to browse listings from their mobile devices or other devices without Common Access Card readers after they initially set up a username and password through the service’s identity management portal .

Work on the application began in August, Army Software Factory officials told FedScoop last month. They developed it in coordination with the Army’s operations directorates and senior Army Reserve leaders, said Robyn Mack, an Army Futures Command spokesperson.

The development team also asked soldiers and units seeking reservists what they wanted to see from the new portal — and mobile accessibility was near the top of their list.

Mack added that Carrera will also allow the service to harness “data insights that the Army can use to inform job planning and outreach.”

Davis Winkie covers the Army for Military Times. He studied history at Vanderbilt and UNC-Chapel Hill, and served five years in the Army Guard. His investigations earned the Society of Professional Journalists' 2023 Sunshine Award and consecutive Military Reporters and Editors honors, among others. Davis was also a 2022 Livingston Awards finalist.

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Army opening access to temporary jobs postings for reservists

By Jackson Barnett

January 3, 2022

The Army , propelled by a new requirement from Congress, is putting its temporary jobs board on an open network that members of the National Guard and Army Reserve will be able to access from their personal devices.

The job board for temporary voluntary assignments, called “Tour of Duty,” can currently only be accessed on government devices on the Army’s network, a barrier for most reservists and guardsmen who do not have government devices. The change was mandated by the Fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by the president on Dec. 27.

The Army has a year to transition the job board into an available format for soldiers.

“The Army will comply with the NDAA. We are considering evaluating the Tour of Duty portal access as part of the Bring Your Own Device pilot program planned for this year,” Bruce Anderson, an Army spokesperson, said in a statement.

The Army has been piloting allowing guardsmen and reservists to use their personal devices to access Army networks as a part of the service’s transition to a new email platform from Microsoft. The BYOD policy pilot has so far yielded positive results, Army IT leaders said in December media roundtable.

The portal could impact temporary jobs in the IT world that the Army posts, since attracting and retaining talent has been a perennial problem for cyber units and IT components of the Army.

“One person maybe needs a cyber unit … those are all potential position available,” John Goheen, a spokesperson for the National Guard Association told FedScoop in an interview.

The jobs posted to Tour of Duty are all temporary and voluntary openings and not a part of normal drill cycles. Goheen added that many reservists and guardsmen work many part-time jobs, and the opportunity to self-elect to go on active duty could provide new opportunities for soldiers.

“We are in this period of the great resignation … people may have the opportunity to do a tour,” he said.

Other parts of the military have tried to solve similar challenges, including the Defense Innovation Unit’s “ Gig Eagle, ” which matches reservists with tech skills to technical assignments. The Gig Eagle platform aims to function across the military, not just for the Army and it’s unclear if there is any relation between the Army’s new requirement and the DIU platform.

In a statement to FedScoop, DIU Project Manager for Gig Eagle Scott Summer, explained that Gig Eagle will focus on staffing short-term project needs that range from four hours to several months in duration, initially looking at civilian experience and qualifications.

“The objective of Gig Eagle is to enable real-time, location-agnostic talent identification, allowing DOD hiring managers to engage and match military personnel reservists with DOD missions where their talents will have the most impact,” said Summer.

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The Pentagon, one of the world's largest office buildings, is the headquarters of the Department of Defense. Located in the Washington, D.C., area, the five-sided building has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building. Each year, about 100,000 visitors explore displays and memorials in the Pentagon's halls with the help of tour guides, all of whom are active U.S. military service members.

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By Bus: Several public bus lines service the Pentagon Transit Center including buses operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Arlington Transit (ART).

After arriving at the Pentagon Transit Center, exit the bus and follow the signs to the Pentagon Visitor Entrance.

Trip Planners: Convenient public transportation trip planners for both Metrorail and Bus are available on the WMATA and ART websites.

Driving is not recommended because there is no public parking for tours on the Pentagon Reservation.

The nearest public pay-for-parking facility is located adjacent to Macy's at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City .

Once parked, walk across Army Navy Drive, and proceed through the Hayes Street Pentagon Pedestrian Tunnel to the Pentagon South parking lot.

Walk through the Pentagon South parking lot and cross North Rotary Road to the sidewalk between the two big staircases ahead. Turn right along the North Rotary Road sidewalk and follow the signs to the Pentagon Visitor Entrance.

Taxis and Ride Share drivers can drop off and pick up passengers on the sidewalk at the right side of North Rotary Road between the large stairwells for Corridors 2 and 3.

After drop-off, walk counterclockwise around the Pentagon building and follow signs to the Pentagon Visitor Entrance.

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Pentagon History

Construction begins.

Congress authorizes construction of the Pentagon, and ground is broken Sept. 11. The land belonged to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee before it was confiscated during the Civil War.

First Occupants Move In

While the Pentagon's construction is not complete, the first employees begin working inside the building.

Construction Complete

The Pentagon officially opens. The 16-month project required the skill of 1,000 architects and the labor of 14,000 tradesmen working three shifts, 24 hours a day. At the height of World War II, the Pentagon housed more than 33,000 occupants.

Pentagon Tours Established

The Pentagon tours program is established to support the nation's bicentennial celebration. Initially, the program was to last through the 4th of July and then be disbanded; however, internal support and public demand were so great that the program has continued ever since.

Historic Place

The Pentagon is added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Designated as Historic Landmark

The Pentagon is designated a National Historic Landmark, with emphasis on these elements: The five outer facades of the building; The Central Courtyard and its surrounding façade; The terrace fronting the Mall Entrance; The terrace fronting the River Entrance; The building's distinctive five-sided shape.

Renovations Begin

Pentagon renovations begin, one wedge at a time. Building systems are modernized, and a new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified Metro entrance, delivery facility and fitness center are created.

9/11 Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon

American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. Fifty-nine people on the plane and 125 people inside the building perished.

9/11 Memorial Dedicated

The Defense Department honors those killed in the 9/11 attack with the opening of the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.

Renovation Complete

The Pentagon renovation project is complete. With about 4 million square feet of space, renovations included the removal of all hazardous materials, replacement of all building systems, addition of new elevators and escalators to improve vertical circulation, and installation of new security and telecommunications systems.

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