How Long Is A Term Of Service In The Military

By Sydney Johnson

When a service member gets the phone call about a new deployment, an assortment of emotions can wash over them. They may feel excited about embarking on a new experience and traveling to a identify they may accept never been before. They may be nervous nigh performing new skills they haven't utilized quite still. They may as well feel sad knowing they'll accept to leave their families and spend a lot of fourth dimension away from their homes, with minimal communication.

According to the Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA), a deployment is when a service member is required to motion from a home station to another location outside of the United States. A "deployment bicycle," the phrase used to depict the unabridged deployment procedure, includes everything from the initial deployment notification through the menstruum when a service fellow member returns abode.

Deployment cycles tin often look very different across - and even inside – different military branches.

For instance, a deployment for a Navy sailor could mean six months at bounding main on a transport; for a Marine it could mean flying to the other side of the world to work for a few short months; or for an Army soldier information technology could mean living and working in an undisclosed location for up to 15 months.

Although each and every deployment is truly unique, there are a few bones facts to know virtually armed forces deployments in general:

Deployments Range in Length

Navy pilots brand their way to a false prey during a flight deck drill on the Navy'due south only forward-deployed shipping carrier USS Ronald Reagan. | Photo credit DVIDS/Footling Officeholder third Class Gabriel Martinez

The boilerplate military deployment is typically between six and 12 months long. Still, deployment lengths vary greatly from branch to branch, are situational and depend on several factors specific to each individual service member.

For example, some Navy submarine deployments are less than a calendar month long, while some ship deployments can be more than a year. On the other hand, some members of the Air Force can undergo several shorter deployments with very curt breaks in between each.

Service Members Must Complete Pre-Deployment Preparation

Each deployment is a new assignment, so service members undergo specific grooming earlier leaving for their destination, so they are prepared for the work alee. Sometimes, soldiers demand to learn make new skills to be successful overseas, every bit deployments include many different jobs.

Photo credit DVIDS/Lance Cpl. Ujian Gosun

A mortarman establishes a defensive position in a patrol base operations result during exercise Fuji Viper 21.1 at Combined Arms Grooming Center, Camp Fuji, Japan.

Pre-deployment training is required before every deployment assignment, no matter how many deployments a service fellow member has completed, because each deployment is unique. Some service members are deployed over five times throughout their military machine careers, which means they've undergone just every bit much pre-deployment training every bit well.

Groups of Service Members or Just Individuals Can be Deployed

The number of service members that are selected to deploy depends on what kind of support is needed and how specialized the work is. For more specialized missions, a smaller unit is normally deployed, while larger teams may be sent overseas for other operations.

Typically, entire units are deployed together, just sometimes the U.S. Army deploys individuals.

Deployments Don't Always Involve Combat

In popular movies, books or other media, military deployments are usually characterized as beingness very unsafe, with troops heading off to war in a remote location. While this is a possible reality for some service members, not all deployments involve combat situations.

Photo credit DVIDS/Seaman Santiago Navarro

Navy seamen training on lee captain and helm operation on the ship'south command console in the bridge of the Ticonderoga-form guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh.

One example of a non-gainsay deployment is when a Navy submarine needs supplies while information technology is underway (that is, out at ocean) for a long period of time, a Navy submarine tender – which is a blazon of ship designated to disposed submarines when necessary – volition deploy from its station with its unabridged coiffure aboard and set sail for the submarine's location. The tender may be stationed at a port in Guam, and one time a submarine'due south crew requests assistance, the tender will deploy for however long information technology takes to supply the submarine with fuel, food, etc.

(Fun fact: Did yous know that troops deployed into combat zones receive "imminent danger pay," which is revenue enhancement-exempt bonus compensation?)

Staying in Touch During a Deployment Tin can be a Challenge

For many service members, staying in bear upon with loved ones while deployed tin can be quite the challenge. In some cases, it can exist nearly impossible.

While some deployment locations offer Wi-Fi or phones to connect dorsum dwelling, many others are too remote for service members to have access to whatever reliable communication.

Photo credit DVIDS/Staff Sgt. Timothy Sencindiver

More 160 members render from a ix-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Republic of cuba.

For example, submariners serve in a part of the Navy nicknamed the "Silent Service," and there's a reason for that. Submarines stay hundreds of feet underwater for months at a time. Though there are ways to email and deliver messages to these service members while they are underway, it is hard for them to maintain consistent advice with their loved ones while they are deployed.

Additionally, since deployments beyond all armed services branches can have service members all over the globe, fourth dimension zones can make it hard to coordinate with their loved ones dorsum habitation.

An airman hugs her loved one upon return. | Photo credit DVIDS/Staff Sgt. Tony Harp

If a service member'southward family lives on the East Coast, and their service member is in South Korea, there would exist an 13-hour fourth dimension difference. Timing and lack of access to ways of communications can force many families to go weeks, sometimes months, with piddling to no connection.

Many Deployed Service Members Can Visit a USO Eye to Stay in Touch with Loved Ones

Because staying in impact with loved ones during a deployment tin can exist specially challenging for some service members, the USO offers several programs, similar Functioning Phone Home and the Bob Promise Legacy Reading Program, designed to help them connect back home.
This includes Wi-Fi, computers and telephone phone call centers within the USO location, as well as pre-paid phone cards, all of which service members to use to connect with their families and friends dorsum abode. The Bob Promise Legacy Reading Plan allows service members to tape themselves reading stories to their children, and then send that recording and a copy of the book dorsum domicile, so that they can all the same "exist there" for bedtime.

Service members can be away from their homes for months at a time, merely while they are in a distant location, they can still stay continued to their families by taking reward of the USO's free services, and so they remain strong while completing their missions.

Deployment can be a tough experience, both physically and emotionally, which is why staying connected to their loved ones is particularly important.

- This story originally appeared on USO.org in 2020. It has been updated in 2022.