Page "Leave (U.S. military)" Paragraph 13

Leave time will " roll over " from year to year.

A servicemember may carry up to 75 days of leave before he or she must take it.

Leave in excess of 75 days is known as " Use or Lose ", if the servicemember does not use the excess leave by October 1 he or she will lose it ( this has been extended from 60 days to 75 from June 27, 2008 until 30 September 2013 ).

Under certain circumstances, the use or lose threshold may be extended to 80 days, if the member is unable to take leave due to duty requirements, usually because of a deployment.

If a servicemember leaves the military without having used all his or her leave time, the unusued days are paid for at the member's regular rate of pay upon separation.

Conversely, though the situation is less common, pay will be deducted as excess leave on separation if too many days were taken.