We were told that since we are leaving the US for more than 12 months my husband is entitled to 30 days of leave before we have to go. Does anyone know how we go about getting those 30 days? Do we need a document to fill out or do we tell someone once we start to process of getting ready?

His detailer sent us an email saying his orders will be cut soon so we want to be ready to do everything as quickly and smoothly as possible.

When your husband gets his orders, have him sit down with his chief or career counselor and read the entire message. It is extremely important to do so since a lot of the questions that are commonly asked are answered by what is contained in the orders message. There should be a blurb in the orders that talks about how many days leave and transit time which you are entitled to on the way. All that you have to do in order to take the leave is to have your husband check out of his current command and check into his new command. The time in between is counted as leave and deducted from his leave balance. Unfortunately, I have not heard of anyone in the Navy getting free leave before they come here. It would be rally nice though!

Thanks for the reply felinious.

That is true. You should see the leave written into the orders, just make sure he has enough leave on the books to accomodate 30 days without going in the hole. You'll also see the travel and proceed days that you are eligible for in the orders. Those will not count against the leave so you may not want to max out with the 30 days. I believe the difference in them is that you get paid for the travel days (and the leave days) but proceed days are like travel days you do not get paid for.