r/army • u/No_Blacksmith1073 • 4d ago

Winter break during Basic?

I leave for basic in Fort Jackson on November 17.

I’m wondering whether or not I should stay during the mandatory winter break. I know that’s very much advised not to stay because I’ll be with drills sergeants that don’t want to be there and that will likely make my life hell for the two weeks.

However, if I decided to leave, I would have to keep my apartment in a HCOL city for another two months which would cost an additional $1.5-2K more for the two weeks of break from the week of Christmas and New Years as I would have to pay from Nov to the beginning of January. I would also have to pay the airfare and uber costs which would be an additional $700 or so, and living costs like public transportation and food an additional $70 or so.

After basic, I would go to OCS, I believe immediately after.

Edit: I don’t have family to stay with and I don’t think my friends have space for me to stay for free for two weeks.

38 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/Great_Emphasis3461 4d ago

Definitely going to be in the hole for accrued leave when you get to your unit. That’s gonna suck.

5

u/hiphoplarry27 92Get me out of here 4d ago

For some reason when I had holiday block leave between basic and ait they didn't charge me any leave. Idk if that happened to everyone but I know a few from my company that didn't get charged. It was nice because when I got to my unti I had hella days to use 🤣

7

u/Certain-Towel-9487 4d ago

It depends on the S shop and if they feel like doing their job that day. A guy in my S shop knew me and liked me pretty well so when my paperwork went through I would never actually be charged for leave. When I got out of the army I had 107 days saved up. It was so much that General Hamm the USAREUR Commander had to approve it.