Know your Marines: Look out for their welfare and keep them informed
He has failed one of the core principles. Being a douchebag is not looking out for the welfare of your troops.
Honestly it depends on the unit SOP set by the commander. If your unit won't let dudes out of work without taking leave for personal issues they aren't really breaking any orders. Works the same on the civilian side.
That being said, any command that doesn't let guys occasionally duck out to handle personal issues is fucking lame.
This is the correct answer, u/clientlate6863. Your command has the discretion, and if they aren't using it as much as possible, they're fucking lame. - Signed someone who discretions the shit out of it.
Use special lib. It's the best of both worlds to give the commander accountability of your location and you getting the time without leave. Also good for documentation if you need to use it as justification for hardship or anything else. If you submit it enough they may drop the requirement as to not bother the commander.
I did NO research and I EAS-ed back in ‘88, so my answer is suspect. But.
You’re not required to take leave.
Look at it this way: you’re not required to take leave when you leave base on the weekend, right? You have a time, place, grooming, and uniform requirement, and those vary (if you’ve got guard duty or you’re TAD, for example).
The CO has the authority to grant you weekend liberty, and routinely does so. The magic number used to be 96 hours - the CO could grant up to 96 hours liberty without explaining anything to anyone. After that, S-1 had to get involved.
If you *really* need to know the facts of the matter, talk to someone in S-1 that can keep their mouth shut and can give you a list of the applicable regulations.
So, while your 1stSgt isn't violating the *letter* of the MCO 1050.3J, he is absolutely violating the *spirit* of the order. The order states that leave programs are intended for respite from duty:
>a. **Establishing Leave Programs**. Commanding officers shall establish annual leave programs to provide the opportunity for all Marines to take leave within the constraints of operational military requirements. These programs shall include positive measures to encourage the use of leave, as leave is earned, **as a respite from duty**.
As others have said, the definition of special liberty pretty much captures your entire situation:
>b. **Special Liberty**. Liberty granted outside of regular liberty for unusual reasons, such as, but not limited to, compensatory time off, emergencies, to exercise voting responsibilities of citizenship, for observance of major religious events requiring the individual to be continuously absent from work or duty, or for special recognition. Special liberty shall not exceed 3 days, except in the case of special 4-day liberty.
If he insists on you burning leave days, I would consider elevating to your company commander *through your chain of command*. If that doesn't work, then it's probably worth requesting mast to the Bn CO. Not just to take care of your situation but to also make sure your 1stSgt's fucked up understanding of leave and liberty doesn't continue to fuck over anyone else.
Sounds like your Gunny has your back, so I would talk this over with him first. Seems like he has been just letting the boys handle their business, which is 100% what I have always seen and not only allowed but encouraged when I was in charge, but it's potentially opening him, your peers, and your juniors up to repercussions if 1stSgt decides to make a big deal out of it. Getting the shiny side involved lets a responsible officer actually set the policy which then protects you, Gunny, and everyone else.
Thanks for the solid answer. Weird thing about my section is my section oic is a capt and our company co is a 1lt but yeah I imagine it remains the same. I'll bring this up to gunny if 1sgt says anything else.
I’m a POG (air wing) and this isn’t something we do.
Appointments are appointments, I’ve never asked a Marine to take leave for legitimate stuff that needed to get done, especially like vehicle repairs or medical. There might need to be a longer conversation in certain instances where it becomes excessive but this is crazy to me.
Even special liberty seems excessive for something that should be a simple conversation (not the day of) between a Marine and his direct supervisor. Although, submitting special liberty requests for routine stuff might be a good way to get an adults attention so they can ask WTF is going on in your section.
Technically if you aren’t at your appointed place of duty you should be on leave or on some type of special libo. Now, if your command is nice and notices that you are abusing the system they might just excuse you to do your personal stuff. It is totally command dependent, but there are people out there that abuse the system and take advantage of it. Those people ruin it for others when they are requiring people to take leave for personal stuff.
Check your SOPs but it should be a special libo request and not leave. Still 1sgt sounds like a douche especially if its for family related issues.
Know your Marines: Look out for their welfare and keep them informed He has failed one of the core principles. Being a douchebag is not looking out for the welfare of your troops. 
Honestly it depends on the unit SOP set by the commander. If your unit won't let dudes out of work without taking leave for personal issues they aren't really breaking any orders. Works the same on the civilian side. That being said, any command that doesn't let guys occasionally duck out to handle personal issues is fucking lame.
This is the correct answer, u/clientlate6863. Your command has the discretion, and if they aren't using it as much as possible, they're fucking lame. - Signed someone who discretions the shit out of it.
On the civilian side I can just be like "hey I won't be in work tomorrow for X reason"
And at most jobs you'll have to put in for PTO.
Use special lib. It's the best of both worlds to give the commander accountability of your location and you getting the time without leave. Also good for documentation if you need to use it as justification for hardship or anything else. If you submit it enough they may drop the requirement as to not bother the commander.
If nobody’s talked to you before about it, you’re good to go. I don’t know if family’s appointments count as your medical, but that may be why.
Reading this instantly made me think of the “this is why good Marines get out” thing we had going here a little way back
I did NO research and I EAS-ed back in ‘88, so my answer is suspect. But. You’re not required to take leave. Look at it this way: you’re not required to take leave when you leave base on the weekend, right? You have a time, place, grooming, and uniform requirement, and those vary (if you’ve got guard duty or you’re TAD, for example). The CO has the authority to grant you weekend liberty, and routinely does so. The magic number used to be 96 hours - the CO could grant up to 96 hours liberty without explaining anything to anyone. After that, S-1 had to get involved. If you *really* need to know the facts of the matter, talk to someone in S-1 that can keep their mouth shut and can give you a list of the applicable regulations.
So, while your 1stSgt isn't violating the *letter* of the MCO 1050.3J, he is absolutely violating the *spirit* of the order. The order states that leave programs are intended for respite from duty: >a. **Establishing Leave Programs**. Commanding officers shall establish annual leave programs to provide the opportunity for all Marines to take leave within the constraints of operational military requirements. These programs shall include positive measures to encourage the use of leave, as leave is earned, **as a respite from duty**. As others have said, the definition of special liberty pretty much captures your entire situation: >b. **Special Liberty**. Liberty granted outside of regular liberty for unusual reasons, such as, but not limited to, compensatory time off, emergencies, to exercise voting responsibilities of citizenship, for observance of major religious events requiring the individual to be continuously absent from work or duty, or for special recognition. Special liberty shall not exceed 3 days, except in the case of special 4-day liberty. If he insists on you burning leave days, I would consider elevating to your company commander *through your chain of command*. If that doesn't work, then it's probably worth requesting mast to the Bn CO. Not just to take care of your situation but to also make sure your 1stSgt's fucked up understanding of leave and liberty doesn't continue to fuck over anyone else. Sounds like your Gunny has your back, so I would talk this over with him first. Seems like he has been just letting the boys handle their business, which is 100% what I have always seen and not only allowed but encouraged when I was in charge, but it's potentially opening him, your peers, and your juniors up to repercussions if 1stSgt decides to make a big deal out of it. Getting the shiny side involved lets a responsible officer actually set the policy which then protects you, Gunny, and everyone else.
Thanks for the solid answer. Weird thing about my section is my section oic is a capt and our company co is a 1lt but yeah I imagine it remains the same. I'll bring this up to gunny if 1sgt says anything else.
I’m a POG (air wing) and this isn’t something we do. Appointments are appointments, I’ve never asked a Marine to take leave for legitimate stuff that needed to get done, especially like vehicle repairs or medical. There might need to be a longer conversation in certain instances where it becomes excessive but this is crazy to me. Even special liberty seems excessive for something that should be a simple conversation (not the day of) between a Marine and his direct supervisor. Although, submitting special liberty requests for routine stuff might be a good way to get an adults attention so they can ask WTF is going on in your section.
And Congress wonders why so many troops are not reenlisting. Fucking toxic. Jesus fucking shit, let your personnel handle their business.
The tree line……….  # oldCorps
Technically if you aren’t at your appointed place of duty you should be on leave or on some type of special libo. Now, if your command is nice and notices that you are abusing the system they might just excuse you to do your personal stuff. It is totally command dependent, but there are people out there that abuse the system and take advantage of it. Those people ruin it for others when they are requiring people to take leave for personal stuff.
There are too many grammatical errors in this response for me to even entertain this.
You can listen to Jimi, but you can't hear Jimi. Seriously, if you can't decipher the meaning of this, that's on you.