US Code
CHAPTER 50— MISCELLANEOUS COMMAND RESPONSIBILITIES
§ 991. Management of deployments of members and measurement and data collection of unit operating and personnel tempo

(a) Management Responsibilities.—(1) The deployment (or potential deployment) of a member of the armed forces shall be managed to ensure that the member is not deployed, or continued in a deployment, on any day on which the total number of days on which the member has been deployed—(A) out of the preceding 365 days would exceed the one-year high-deployment threshold; or
(B) out of the preceding 730 days would exceed the two-year high-deployment threshold.
(2) In this subsection:(A) The term “one-year high-deployment threshold” means—(i) 220 days; or
(ii) a lower number of days prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
(B) The term “two-year high-deployment threshold” means—(i) 400 days; or
(ii) a lower number of days prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
(3) A member may be deployed, or continued in a deployment, without regard to paragraph (1) if the deployment, or continued deployment, is approved by the Secretary of Defense. The authority of the Secretary under the preceding sentence may only be delegated to a civilian officer of the Department of Defense appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(4) The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe a policy that addresses each of the following:(A) The amount of dwell time a regular member of the armed forces or unit remains at the member’s or unit’s permanent duty station or home port, as the case may be, between deployments.
(B) The amount of dwell time a reserve member of the armed forces remains at the member’s permanent duty station after completing a deployment of 30 days or more in length.
(b) Deployment Defined.—(1) For the purposes of this section, a member of the armed forces shall be considered to be deployed or in a deployment on any day on which, pursuant to orders, the member is performing service in a training exercise or operation at a location or under circumstances that make it impossible or infeasible for the member to spend off-duty time in the housing in which the member resides when on garrison duty at the member’s permanent duty station or homeport, as the case may be.
(2) In the case of a member of a reserve component who is performing active service pursuant to orders that do not establish a permanent change of station, the housing referred to in paragraph (1) is any housing (which may include the member’s residence) that the member usually occupies for use during off-duty time when on garrison duty at the member’s permanent duty station or homeport, as the case may be.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a member is not deployed or in a deployment when the member is—(A) performing service as a student or trainee at a school (including any Government school);
(B) performing administrative, guard, or detail duties in garrison at the member’s permanent duty station; or
(C) unavailable solely because of—(i) a hospitalization of the member at the member’s permanent duty station or homeport or in the immediate vicinity of the member’s permanent residence; or
(ii) a disciplinary action taken against the member.
(4) The Secretary of Defense may prescribe a definition of deployment for the purposes of this section other than the definition specified in paragraphs (1) and (2). Any such definition may not take effect until 90 days after the date on which the Secretary notifies the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives of the revised standard definition of deployment.
(c) Recordkeeping.—(1) The Secretary of Defense shall—(A) establish a system for tracking and recording the number of days that each member of the armed forces is deployed;
(B) prescribe policies and procedures for measuring operating tempo and personnel tempo; and
(C) maintain a central data collection repository to provide information for research, actuarial analysis, interagency reporting, and evaluation of Department of Defense programs and policies.
(2) The data collection repository shall be able to identify—(A) the active and reserve component units of the armed forces that are participating at the battalion, squadron, or an equivalent level (or a higher level) in contingency operations, major training events, and other exercises and contingencies of such a scale that the exercises and contingencies receive an official designation; and
(B) the duration of their participation.
(3) For each of the armed forces, the data collection repository shall be able to indicate, for a fiscal year—(A) the number of members who received the high-deployment allowance under section 436 of title 37 (or who would have been eligible to receive the allowance if the duty assignment was not excluded by the Secretary of Defense);
(B) the number of members who received each rate of allowance paid (estimated in the case of members described in the parenthetical phrase in subparagraph (A));
(C) the number of months each member received the allowance (or would have received it in the case of members described in the parenthetical phrase in subparagraph (A)); and
(D) the total amount expended on the allowance.
(4) For each of the armed forces, the data collection repository shall be able to indicate, for a fiscal year, the number of days that high demand, low density units (as defined by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) were deployed, and whether these units met the force goals for limiting deployments, as described in the personnel tempo policies applicable to that armed force.
(d) National Security Waiver Authority.—(1) The Secretary of the military department concerned may suspend the applicability of this section to a member or any group of members under the Secretary’s jurisdiction when the Secretary determines that such a waiver is necessary in the national security interests of the United States.
(2)(A) Whenever a waiver is in effect under paragraph (1), the member or group of members covered by the waiver shall be subject to specific and measurable deployment thresholds established and maintained for purposes of this subsection.
(B) Thresholds under this paragraph may be applicable—(i) uniformly, Department of Defense-wide; or
(ii) separately, with respect to each armed force or the United States Special Operations Command.
(C) If thresholds under this paragraph are applicable Department-wide, such thresholds shall be established and maintained by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. If such thresholds are applicable only to one armed force or the Under States Special Operations Command, such thresholds shall be established and maintained respectively by the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy (other than with respect to the Marine Corps), the Secretary of the Air Force, the Commandant of the Marine Corps (with respect to the Marine Corps), and the Commander of the United States Special Operations Command, as applicable.
(D) In undertaking recordkeeping for purposes of subsection (c), the Under Secretary shall, in conjunction with the officials and officers referred to in subparagraph (C), collect complete and reliable personnel tempo data of members described in subparagraph (A) in order to ensure that the Department, the armed forces, and the United States Special Operations Command fully and completely monitor personnel tempo under any waiver authorized under paragraph (1) and the effect of such waiver on the armed forces.
(e) Inapplicability to Coast Guard.—This section does not apply to a member of the Coast Guard when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy.
(f) Other Definitions.—In this section:(1)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the term “dwell time” means the time a member of the armed forces or a unit spends at the permanent duty station or home port after returning from a deployment.
(B) The Secretary of Defense may modify the definition of dwell time specified in subparagraph (A). If the Secretary establishes a different definition of such term, the Secretary shall transmit the new definition to Congress.
(2) The term “operating tempo” means the rate at which units of the armed forces are involved in all military activities, including contingency operations, exercises, and training deployments.
(3) The term “personnel tempo” means the amount of time members of the armed forces are engaged in their official duties at a location or under circumstances that make it infeasible for a member to spend off-duty time in the housing in which the member resides.

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