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                         October 4, 2002

Much easier travel?

n Army testing new TDY system

WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- Soldiers on temporary duty for more than 30 days often pay their government credit card bill out of pocket and seek reimbursement later. But the Army is currently conducting a pilot program at Fort Lee, Va., in hopes of eliminating that hardship.

Under the Military Training Service Support, the test program that started Tuesday, Fort Lee will be required to feed, lodge and transport its TDY soldiers -- active duty, Reserve and National Guard, said Mary Ellen McCrillis, a program analyst for the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, G3.

The new pilot will hopefully be expanded to Fort Gordon, Ga., Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort Jackson, S.C., in January 2003, McCrillis said. The goal is to implement the program Armywide over the next several years, she said.

Soldiers who will be attending Fort Lee’s Quartermaster Center and School, Noncommissioned Officer Academy and Army Logistics Management College will only receive per diem for the day of travel to and from the training installation to include incidental expenses, McCrillis said. The sending installation is encouraged, but not directed, to pay for mileage during the course, if the soldier drives his own vehicle, she said. Not until the end of the course will soldiers have to fill out a travel voucher, she added.

"Soldiers are used to having choices," McCrillis said. "They get full per diem and choose where they’re going to eat. Students may not like the fact that those choices will be taken away."

A monetary savings for the Army has not been determined yet, Weinhold said, but there will be a cost avoidance starting with the reduction in travel vouchers submitted.

Other cost avoidances will vary from installation to installation.

"We expect installations to be innovative," Weinhold said. "For example, if they don’t have the capabilities to house everyone, they can negotiate with local hotels."

After one year, we will present the results to White, she added.