LENGTH OF JOINT DUTY ASSIGNMENTS

SEC. 514. LENGTH OF JOINT DUTY ASSIGNMENTS Section 664 of title 10, United States Code, is amended as follows: (1) Subsection (a) is amended— (A) by striking out “three years” in paragraph (1) and inserting in lieu thereof “two years”; and (B) by striking out “three and one-half years” in paragraph (2) and inserting in lieu thereof “three years”. (2) Subsection (c)(1) is amended— (A) by striking out “has been” and inserting in lieu thereof “is”; and (B) by striking out “before such assignment begins”. (3) Subsection (d)(2) is amended by inserting “which is less than the applicable standard prescribed in subsection (a)” after “Hawaii”. (4) Subsection (f) is amended— (A) by striking out “or” at the end of paragraph (2); (B) by striking out the period at the end of paragraph (3) and inserting in lieu a semicolon; and (C) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: “(4) a joint duty assignment outside the United States or in Alaska or Hawaii for which the normal accompanied-by-dependents tour of duty is prescribed by regulation to be at least two years in length, if the officer serves in the assignment for a period equivalent to the accompanied-by-dependents tour length (except that not more than 6 percent of all joint duty assignments may be considered to be under this paragraph at any time); or “(5) a joint duty assignment with respect to which the Secretary of Defense has granted a waiver under subsection (b), but only in a case in which the Secretary determines that the service completed by that officer in that duty assignment shall be considered to be a full tour of duty in a joint duty assignment.”. (5) Subsection (g)(3) is amended by striking out “shall be excluded—” and all that follows in that subsection and inserting in lieu thereof “shall be excluded if the officer served less than 10 months in that assignment.”. (6) Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(h) Constructive Credit.—(1) The Secretary of Defense may accord constructive credit in the case of an officer (other than a general or flag officer) who, for reasons of military necessity, is reassigned from a joint duty assignment within 60 days of meeting the tour length criteria prescribed in subsection (f)(1), (f)(2), (f)(4), or (g)(2). The amount of constructive service that may be credited to such officer shall be the amount sufficient for the completion of the applicable tour of duty requirement, but in no case more than 60 days. “(2) For the purpose of computing under subsection (e) the average length of joint duty assignments during a fiscal year, the amount of any constructive service credited under this subsection with respect 102 STAT. 1970to a joint duty assignment to be counted in that computation shall be excluded. (3) This subsection shall not apply in the case of an officer who serves less than 10 months in the joint duty assignment.”.