Temporary duty travel (TDY), also sometimes referred to as Temporary Additional Duty (TAD) in the US Navy and US Marine Corps, is a duty status designation reflecting a US Government Employee's official travel or assignment at a location other than the employee's permanent duty station. This type of secondment is usually of relatively short duration, typically from two to 189 days in length. Various Departments and Agencies within the US Federal Government have differing regulations governing the authorizations, allowances, and processing of TDY personnel. For Example, the Department of Defense uses the Joint Travel Regulations, while the Department of State and other foreign affairs agencies use the guidance in the Foreign Affairs Manual. Employees on TDY status are reimbursed for their expenses via a flat-rate

per diem ''Per diem'' (Latin for "per day" or "for each day") or daily allowance is a specific amount of money that an organization gives an individual, typically an employee, per day to cover living expenses when travelling on the employer's business. A ...

, based on location, covering meals, and incidental expenses (M&IE). Lodging is reimbursed on a cost-basis with a location-dependent cap. Domestic M&IE and Lodging rates are established by the General Services Administration while overseas rates are determined by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

Office of Allowances. Some locations have furnished

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

s for long-term stay. These apartments have fully equipped kitchens so TDY recipients have the option to cook rather than always eat out, and some may have free

washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...

s and

clothes dryer A clothes dryer (tumble dryer, drying machine, drying device, or simply dryer) is a powered Home appliance, household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing, bedding and other textiles, usually after they are washed in ...

s. Some government agencies consider any assignment over 45 days as an extended TDA, which allows the employee to be reimbursed for part of the expenses before the end of the assignment. Examples of TDY assignments in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

include attendance of newly commissioned officers at basic-branch Basic Officer Leaders Courses, and Gold Bar Recruiter duty in the interim; and training of all ranks at specialty-skill schools (e.g. United States Army Airborne School, United States Army Air Assault School, Army Mountain Warfare School) through their sponsoring commands. In the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, temporary duty can be commonly approved by commanders for service at

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered, federally supported Nonprofit corporation, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliaries, auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CA ...

basic encampments or other activities because it serves the organizational mission of recruitment and public affairs.

References

External links

GSA 2011 Per Diem Rates CONUS & OCONUS
{{Civil service Federal government of the United States Military slang and jargon