Soldiers who experience the death of a spouse will automatically be allowed to remain at their home station for at least 12 months, under a new Army policy already in effect.that is in effect now.
The policy, put forth in a March 31 memo from acting Army Secretary Patrick Murphy, also allows grieving soldiers to request an additional 12 months at their location. A 2012 memo from then-Army Secretary John McHugh allowed soldiers to request a 24-month stabilization, but did not guarantee any portion of that request would be granted.
Soldiers may ask that their request be terminated at any point.
They can ask gives soldiers the option of requesting to stay at their current location for an additional 12 months. They also can request that the stabilization be terminated at any time.
Soldiers who experience the death of a spouse automatically will be stabilized at their home station for at least 12 months, under a new policy now in effect.
Once stabilized, soldiers have the option of requesting that they remain at their current location for an additional 12 months. They also can request that the stabilization be terminated at any time.
"The establishment of this policy helps a soldier during a period of extreme hardship to ensure he or she is afforded stability and allowed time to address personal affairs," Murphy said in the memo.said acting Army Secretary of the Army Patrick J. Murphy in implementing the new procedures March 31.
Before this new policy, the Army did not have a specific set of procedures for soldiers suffering from the loss of a spouse. Instead, the soldier would have been subject to regular permanent change of station or assignment cycles. Another option would have been for the soldier's commander to intervene, on a case by case basis, and request stabilization from Human Resources Command.
To qualify for these special assignment procedures, soldiers should make stabilization extension or termination requests through their chain of command to the Commander, U.S. Army Human Resources command, 1600 Spearhead Ave., Fort Knox, KY 40122-5100.
The new policy, Secretary of the Army Directive No. 2016-13, will be incorporated into the next revisions of Army Regulations 135-18 (Active Guard and Reserve Program), 614-100 (Officer Assignment Policies) and 614-200 (Enlisted Assignments and Utilization Management).
