My family will be arriving in Yokosuka in less than 2 weeks.  The plan was for my husband to take a couple of weeks of leave once we arrived but before he checked into his command.  That way we could all adjust to the time change and wander around a little bit to get the lay of the land.  We were hoping to do the housing brief before he checked into his ship so that we could hopefully get somewhat settled in before the possiblity of him getting underway.  (And possibly have me do the AOB so that we don't have to put our kids in daycare for a week.)  Can we attend the housing brief before he checks into his command?  I've heard both yes and no.  He has already emailed his sponsor (who also happens to be his LPO) about taking leave once we arrive and he didn't seem to think it would be a problem.

Thanks for your help!

Does your "not later than" date support that? If so, he can take the leave if it's on the books. As for the housing brief, I'd love an answer. I hadn't looked into that, just kind of assumed it wouldn't be an issue. We don't get there til May/June and would like to get as settled as possible, too, before checking in.

I was thinking the same thing as he has plenty of leave on the books and his report "no later than" is at the end of March. I guess my arguement would be that, since your control date is based on the date you detached from your prior command and not the date you check into your new on it shouldn't make a difference one way or the other. However, this being the Navy and all, sometimes things aren't done in a logical sort of way.

From experience, when you get to Yoko I predict the ship will have a change of heart, try to convince him to check in early, with a promise that they will put him on leave. RESIST THE PRESSURE TO DO THIS! I don't know why commands always pull this stunt, but the next thing you'll know, he's signed up for classes, and on a duty roster, and there goes your leave time. Tell him to be respectful but firm on declining to check in before you're ready.

Totally agree with TG on this one. TAKE YOUR LEAVE! I'm going to shore, so I'm not too worried about me. I'm hoping I can still get to AOB and housing while on leave, though.

We were able to do our housing brief before my husband checked into his new command. I will agree with everyone else and say do not go to the new command until your report date. My husband made that mistake when his ship called us at the Navy Lodge and said they wanted him to come by and meet everyone. Once he got there they he was told he needed to start the turn over process right away. He was even told to just sign in at AOB and have me sign him in and out at breaks. Of course, this was when AOB was held in the Benny Decker so I imagine that might be a little more difficult now. Live and learn!

I can't remember if you need a stamp copy of orders along with your application or not...because if they need to be stamped, you have to check in first....

We just went through this. My husbands plan was to take leave when we first arrived. We arrived December 1, his report date was December 19. We found out a few things. 1. We wouldn't, and didn't, get TLA (reimbursement for lodging and food before you're placed in housing.) for the days he was on leave and not checked in to his new command. We only got reimbursed for 2 days lodging and food out of 10! We were allowed to attend AOB and do the housing brief however, could not look at or even be put on a wait list for housing until he was checked in. So, what ended up happening??? My husband checked in early. However... he arranged with the command that he could have a few days leave after check in and they were fine with that. Had we known all of that prior, we would have arranged to check in early with approved leave immediately following from the command. I would communicate with your new commands to see if they'll do this also. A day or two of your husband reporting to the new command upon arrival is worth it to get your full TLA and on that wait list for housing! Commands more than likely won't have a problem with you taking leave upon check in since they're not expecting you until the date on your orders. Ours was very helpful. Just wish it was explained to us better by someone before we wasted a lot of money on lodging that would have been paid back to us.

OH! Another IMPORTANT factor of not checking in ASAP. You won't start getting COLA or Sea Pay (if going to a ship) until you check in to your command. All your BAH and US pay entitlements stop as soon as you leave your current command. Another thing we learned after the fact. Lets just say my husbands first pay check here was just Base Pay only. Our ships Admin totally misinformed us before we transferred. We were told we'd be fine on pay and allowances by taking leave with out checking in first. WRONG!

I agree it is better to check in because you CAN NOT draw TLA until you check in.