{"id":54007,"date":"2021-09-16T17:07:38","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T17:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/16\/13-deployment-to-dwell-ratio-to-be-standardized-under-dod-policy-starting-in-nov\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:03:16","slug":"13-deployment-to-dwell-ratio-to-be-standardized-under-dod-policy-starting-in-nov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/16\/13-deployment-to-dwell-ratio-to-be-standardized-under-dod-policy-starting-in-nov\/","title":{"rendered":"1:3 deployment-to-dwell ratio to be standardized under DoD policy starting in Nov"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Twenty years into the Global War on Terror<\/a>, the Defense Department is moving to regulate the amount of time that troops spend at home in between deployments<\/a>, starting Nov. 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A goal that the services have strived for, at least in rhetoric, for more than a decade could become a reality. The new standard for deployment-to-dwell ratio<\/a> would be at least 1:3, according to a memo signed Aug. 16<\/a>, meaning active-duty troops would spend three years at home for every one year deployed or mobilized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe intent is for Combatant Commanders at every level to ensure that individual Service members, regardless of unit assignment, are not repeatedly exposed to combat, do not experience disproportionate deployments, and do not spend extended periods of time away from their homeport, station, or base unless required by operational necessity,\u201d the memo reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current standard ratio for active-duty troops 1:2, which can only be broken with defense secretary approval. For the reserve component, the current 1:4 standard would bump up to at least 1:5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese ratios apply only to dwell time for Service members who have completed a deployment of 30 days or more,\u201d according to the memo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The memo calls on the service secretaries to meet the new ratios, but allows for them to fall back on 1:2 or 1:4, or less, when deemed necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the end of the war in Afghanistan, the services have a much greater chance of meeting these deployment-to-dwell ratios than at any other time in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While 15-month Army deployments became a standard during the height of GWOT, in recent years, mobilizations have regulated down to more like nine months for soldiers and Marines, six months for airmen and six to nine months for sailors, though different deployments often call for different durations and last-minute extensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\t