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Provides a portal to post, find and volunteer for Active Duty tours. Tour of Duty (TOD) is a system for advertising AD opportunities where RC Soldiers can look for available tours that match their skills and desire to serve. Soldiers can volunteer for consideration for the tours and the hiring commands can screen and recommend interested candidates as part of the TOD process. Soldiers recommended to fill the tours sign automatically generated request packets in DAMPS-A.

Soldiers that would like to volunteer for mobilizations should contact their unit and ask to be added to the G1 MOB Volunteer list.

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Congress orders Army to open Tour of Duty portal to Reserve, Guard troops

Since late 2017, the Army’s more than 500,000 National Guard and Reserve soldiers haven’t been able to browse short-term Army vacancies except on a government network. Thanks to a new provision in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act , however, the service will now make those listings available on soldiers’ personal devices.

The Army advertises individual vacancies for deployments or short active duty tours on Tour of Duty, an online job board tailored for the service’s part-time soldiers to volunteer for such roles. But the required trip to an armory to get on a government network was a barrier for many troops that don’t have access except while on base.

“The Army will comply with the [legislation],” spokesperson Bruce Anderson told Army Times. “We are considering evaluating the Tour of Duty portal access as part of the Bring Your Own Device pilot program planned for this year.”

The service will have a year to implement the change.

Another new policy added that Guard and Reserve troops can now spend five years out of every six on temporary active duty for operational support orders (ADOS). Previously, such volunteers were limited to three years on ADOS out of every four calendar years.

Leaders of organizations representing Guard and Reserve troops praised the measure.

“Providing ease of access for Citizen Soldiers to find their next opportunity to serve is vital to their growth as soldiers and the readiness of the reserve force,” said the Reserve Organization of America’s Executive Director, retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Phillips, in a press release .

A spokesperson for the National Guard Association of the U.S. was cautiously supportive of the change, noting that ADOS roles were a “bandaid” for issues with permanent full-time manning.

“[This] has the potential to impact a lot of people,” NGAUS spokesperson John Goheen said, describing the provisions as a “win-win” that will give soldiers increased opportunities and create better application pools for critical short-term vacancies.

The bipartisan Tour of Duty legislative provision was spearheaded in Congress by Rep. Chris Jacobs, R-N.Y., and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

The author of this article is a member of NGAUS .

This article was updated at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 30, 2021, to clarify that Tour of Duty was accessible from non-government devices until late 2017 .

Davis Winkie covers the Army for Military Times. He studied history at Vanderbilt and UNC-Chapel Hill, and served five years in the Army Guard. His investigations earned the Society of Professional Journalists' 2023 Sunshine Award and consecutive Military Reporters and Editors honors, among others. Davis was also a 2022 Livingston Awards finalist.

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• General Military Questions

How Long Is A Tour Of Duty In The Military?

The U.S. military utilizes a tour of duty system to rotate personnel to various locations, serving different functions as a means of fulfilling missions and allowing service members a broader experience.

This system enables efficiency and organization in terms of each branch of the Armed Forces and its resources — including service members.

All military personnel are eligible for a tour of duty, depending on their unit, position, military occupational specialty, and many other factors.

Here is an explanation of how long a tour of duty is in the military.

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Table of Contents

What Is Considered A Tour Of Duty In The Military?

A military tour of duty (TOD) refers to a period of time in which personnel from one or more of the Armed Forces branches are deployed or stationed outside the U.S., usually overseas.

You may also see a Tour of Duty called a Deployment. They are both orders issued for a specific purpose or mission and both have a defined time period.

This is sometimes confused with a “TDY” — or Temporary Duty orders . Generally, a TDY is a short-term assignment for the purpose of training or performing administrative duties such as audits and inspections. 

A Tour of Duty or Deployment typically means that service members are temporarily relocated from their base to a different region for mission-related activities.

Such regions are generally located in another country and frequently in areas of combat or hostile environments.

Tours of duty set up a method for rotating military personnel so that human resources are not over-stretched in these conditions.

Before a service member is issued with Tour of Duty or Deployment orders, they must complete basic training within their branch.

They must also undergo any additional unit or individual training that is required.

When service members are not assigned to a tour of duty, they perform their jobs and duties at the post or base where they are stationed.

How Long Is A Tour Of Duty?

In the U.S. military, the length of a tour of duty depends on the branch of the Armed Forces, the reason for deployment, location of tour, and mission of the unit.

Each military branch requires different time spent “in the field” which means active training and/or undertaking an active mission.

For example, certain branches such as the Army may face more active combat situations than members of the Navy.

Therefore, the duration of tours of duty vary between the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Different military branches and their sections determine the timing of a tour of duty.

Note that the Department of Defense has policies indicating the maximum length of any assignment based on the location, the mission, and whether the orders include family members.

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A tour of duty in the Army to a combat zone is typically between 6 and 12 months, though in some cases it is extended to 15 months.

Deployment tours are dependent on the needs and demands of the Army.

In general, soldiers are eligible for two weeks of leave, known as “R&R” (rest and relaxation), after six months of deployment in a combat zone.

A tour of duty to a non-combat zone overseas may be 12 to 36 months.

If a soldier is assigned an “accompanied” tour of duty overseas, in which dependents and family members go along as well, the time period can be as long as 36 months.

Soldiers with dependents that serve “unaccompanied” tours overseas, in which family members do not go along, are usually in-country for 12 months.

Single soldiers (with no dependents) that are assigned to places such as Europe or Japan typically spend 36 months in tour duration.

In these cases, many service members request extensions to remain in these assignments. This may or may not be approved.

The Army considers several aspects in determining tour of duty length for overseas service.

These aspects include:

• Readiness of overseas units
• Stability for soldiers and their families in certain locations
• Stability for commanders in reducing the need for training new soldiers

In the Navy, a tour of duty indicates the period of time spent at sea, performing operational duties.

These duties may include:

• Fleet responsibilities
• Service in a foreign country

A naval tour of duty is part of a rotation that may include a six-month tour on a ship at sea and one month for maintenance in home port with time for training and/or exercises.

Then, there is usually a return to tour of duty at sea for another 6 months.

Most overseas tours for members of the U.S. Navy are limited to two or three years.

However, for naval military personnel assigned to Japan, Guam, and some other areas, tour lengths may last as long as four years.

In some cases, sailors that extend their tour of duty by a year may receive preferential consideration for their next location.

This incentive is offered to enhance the strength and stability of naval forces.

Similar to the Army, a typical tour of duty for Air Force personnel is 12 months in a combat zone.

Most enlisted USAF personnel are not normally involved in direct combat operations, however, which means most tours of duty are usually classified as either accompanied or non-accompanied. 

In this case, accompanied tours are usually for 24-36 months and unaccompanied for 12-24. The timespan will vary depending on the location.

For Air Force pilots and other aircrew members (flight engineers, navigators, loadmasters, etc.), the length of a tour of duty is mission-based. 

USAF members directly assigned to aircraft often do take part in combat missions, although they’re far more mobile than Army forces. Therefore, a tour of duty could be 12-24 months flying out of an installation in a contested region.

It could also be only a month or two providing airlift or air-to-air refueling, flying out of a base in a friendly country (such as Germany, Turkey, or Japan).

On the other hand, it could also mean an accompanied PCS to one of these long-established overseas locations for 36 months. 

Marine Corps

Marine Corps service members typically experience tours of duty overseas between 6 and 12 months, depending on the type of mission.

For example, a Unit Deployment Program (UDP) lasts 6 months, reducing the number of unaccompanied tours for individual Marines.

A deployment for a Marine Air-Ground Task Force lasts up to 6 months and is mission-specific to establish overt U.S. military presence in certain areas.

Marines can also be assigned a tour of duty as an Individual Augmentee.

This takes place when a service member with specific skills is sent to join another military operation for up to 12 months.

Units of Marines can also deploy for combat operations.

In these cases, the tour of duty duration is dependent on the military’s needs in engagement with enemy forces.

However, the length is limited by DoD policy, based on the location.

Conus-side, a stateside tour of duty for Marines is generally 36 months or 3 years. 

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Factors That Influence Tour Of Duty Duration

In addition to a service member’s branch, there are other factors that influence how long a military tour of duty may last.

Since many TODs are spent in hazardous and/or unfriendly areas, away from family and comforts of home, the pressure and toll they take on military members can be significant.

This is why the military coordinates rotating of personnel as effectively as possible.

The goal is to avoid exhaustion and other risks involved in constant action and to attempt to preserve mental and physical health.

Individual service members may face longer or more frequent TODs depending on their experience and expertise.

Depending on the roles that military personnel play in the field, as well as the amount of stress and pressure they face, some tours are longer than others.

Other influential factors include:

• Military occupation
• Mission requirements
• Prior service experience
• Type of unit
• Available resources

Additionally, the reasons for deployment and the location are influential factors that affect the duration of a tour of duty.

For example, active combat missions are generally shorter than tours of duty for the purpose of training exercises or peace-keeping missions.

Related Article – How To Switch From Reserves To Active Duty

Different branches of the U.S. military assign various tours of duty of different duration, depending on many factors and circumstances.

When a military tour of duty is concluded, the service member is generally assigned to a regular duty station or post.

In addition, the service member is ineligible for another tour of duty for a certain period of time.

This ineligibility allows for a break, and recovery, from the intense pressure and action faced by military members that are associated with many deployments and overseas tours.

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Guard and Reserve Members Will Be Able to Access Job Board from Personal Devices

There's not a lot that members of Congress can agree on these days, but one issue that brought Democrats and Republicans together was allowing military members in the National Guard and Reserve to find active-duty gigs more easily.

Both sides of the aisle came together to put a provision into the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, allowing those troops to access the Tour of Duty online job board from their smartphones and other personal devices. Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, joined Reps. Chris Jacobs, R-N.Y., and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, in pushing for the addition.

The Tour of Duty online job board is a database of active-duty orders and deployment s, and it usually features some 2,000 job listings. The Army has more than 500,000 Guard and Reserve members who can search the site and apply, but only through the use of a government computer. The provision passed in the 2022 NDAA will soon allow them to access the site using a "personal internet-enabled device."

The NDAA also extends the amount of time these troops can spend on temporary active duty for operational support orders (ADOS) from three out of every four years to five out of every six.

Without the new provision, users who want to search the database would have to make their way to their duty station to use a government device if they didn't have one at home. The new law also says the Army is responsible for the security of the website, which informs users about the Army's staffing shortages.

Tour of Duty is open to all Reserve Component soldiers to browse and volunteer. Any Army command with positions or missions available can post those jobs on the site. Soldiers must find jobs that not only match their skills, but also match their pay grade.

Soldiers can even post their availability and interest for active-duty tours. Commands looking for Reserve Component soldiers to fill vacancies can see soldiers' names, grades and military occupational specialties (MOS) in a pool of volunteers. If a soldier is selected from Tour of Duty, they can accept or decline.

Once accepted, the soldier signs a voluntary request for active duty, but must still be approved by the soldier's chain of command. The application is then sent to be transferred into official orders. The process usually takes 30-60 days.

A pilot program is expected to be released in the coming weeks, outlining procedures for soldiers to bring personal devices into their workspaces.

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Army opening access to temporary jobs postings for reservists

By Jackson Barnett

January 3, 2022

The Army , propelled by a new requirement from Congress, is putting its temporary jobs board on an open network that members of the National Guard and Army Reserve will be able to access from their personal devices.

The job board for temporary voluntary assignments, called “Tour of Duty,” can currently only be accessed on government devices on the Army’s network, a barrier for most reservists and guardsmen who do not have government devices. The change was mandated by the Fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by the president on Dec. 27.

The Army has a year to transition the job board into an available format for soldiers.

“The Army will comply with the NDAA. We are considering evaluating the Tour of Duty portal access as part of the Bring Your Own Device pilot program planned for this year,” Bruce Anderson, an Army spokesperson, said in a statement.

The Army has been piloting allowing guardsmen and reservists to use their personal devices to access Army networks as a part of the service’s transition to a new email platform from Microsoft. The BYOD policy pilot has so far yielded positive results, Army IT leaders said in December media roundtable.

The portal could impact temporary jobs in the IT world that the Army posts, since attracting and retaining talent has been a perennial problem for cyber units and IT components of the Army.

“One person maybe needs a cyber unit … those are all potential position available,” John Goheen, a spokesperson for the National Guard Association told FedScoop in an interview.

The jobs posted to Tour of Duty are all temporary and voluntary openings and not a part of normal drill cycles. Goheen added that many reservists and guardsmen work many part-time jobs, and the opportunity to self-elect to go on active duty could provide new opportunities for soldiers.

“We are in this period of the great resignation … people may have the opportunity to do a tour,” he said.

Other parts of the military have tried to solve similar challenges, including the Defense Innovation Unit’s “ Gig Eagle, ” which matches reservists with tech skills to technical assignments. The Gig Eagle platform aims to function across the military, not just for the Army and it’s unclear if there is any relation between the Army’s new requirement and the DIU platform.

In a statement to FedScoop, DIU Project Manager for Gig Eagle Scott Summer, explained that Gig Eagle will focus on staffing short-term project needs that range from four hours to several months in duration, initially looking at civilian experience and qualifications.

“The objective of Gig Eagle is to enable real-time, location-agnostic talent identification, allowing DOD hiring managers to engage and match military personnel reservists with DOD missions where their talents will have the most impact,” said Summer.

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Hours of duty and work schedules.

A basic workweek is the officially prescribed days and hours during which a full-time employee is entitled to basic pay. The basic work week for all full-time employees in the Department is 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, including a daily non-compensable lunch period of 30 minutes. Variations from the basic workweek may be authorized by the head of an operating unit or an official to whom personnel management authority is delegated in DAO 202-250. A basic workweek may not extend over more than six of any seven consecutive days.

A regularly scheduled administrative workweek is the period an employee is regularly scheduled to work within an administrative workweek (i.e., a period of seven consecutive 24-hour periods designated in advance). For a full-time employee, it consists of the 40-hour basic workweek plus any periods of regularly scheduled overtime work. For a part-time employee, it means the officially prescribed days and hours during which the employee is regularly scheduled to work. 

A tour of duty is the hours of a day (a daily tour of duty) and the days of an administrative workweek (a weekly tour of duty) that constitute an employee’s regularly scheduled administrative workweek. 

An employee’s tour of duty is to be scheduled so it corresponds with the employee’s actual work requirements and ensures that functions are adequately staffed during office or bureau operating hours. The appointment SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, will reflect the employee's initial tour of duty.

Scheduling Considerations . A regularly scheduled administrative workweek must be established for every full-time employee unless the employee works a first 40-hour tour of duty, is paid annual premium pay for standby duty, works a flexible or compressed work schedule, or is intermittent. 

When an assignment to a new tour of duty is necessary, an employee must be given as much advance notice as possible. Unless there is a bargaining unit agreement that states otherwise, it is standard practice that schedules be established by 6 p.m. Friday of the week prior to the one in which the time will be worked. A schedule may need to be established earlier depending on the hour a majority of the employees depart the workplace. Absent a bargaining unit agreement, published policy, posted schedule or notification that says otherwise, an employee's schedule is deemed set for the following week at that time.

Special Tours of Duty 

Part-time Employment . Part-time schedules may be established when the workload will not support full-time employment or when an employee asks to work part-time and the request can be accommodated. A permanent part-time employee may not work less than 16 hours or more than 32 hours in a week. Temporary part-time employees are not held to these limitations. 

Part-time employment may be scheduled in quarter hour increments, e.g., Monday 9:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., in organizations which charge leave in quarter hour increments, however, the end result may not be a biweekly tour with fractions (e.g., 17 ½ hours, etc.). Otherwise, part-time schedules must be established in whole hours.

When a part-time employee's schedule changes to full-time for more than two consecutive pay periods, the change must be documented by a personnel action to ensure the employee’s leave, service credit and benefits are appropriately applied. 

Intermittent Employment . Intermittent work schedules may be established when the work of a less than full-time position is so sporadic and unpredictable that a tour of duty cannot be scheduled in advance. The hours when the employee’s services are required constitute the hours of duty.

When the work of an intermittent employee becomes regularly scheduled in nature, i.e., for more than two consecutive pay periods, the employee's schedule must be changed by personnel action for the same reasons outlined above under part-time employment.

Mixed Tours . Because of changing workloads, employees may be scheduled to a mixed tour which includes periods of full-time, part-time, and intermittent or furlough employment. Employees who are hired to work a mixed tour as a condition of employment are exempt from the 16 to 32 hour per week part-time employment restriction.

First 40 Hours Tour. When the work situation is such that it is impossible to schedule the hours or days of a regularly scheduled administrative work-week, but employees will perform at least 40 hours of work in an administrative work-week, the employee may be assigned to a tour of duty which consists of the first 40 hours of work performed over not more than 6 days of the administrative workweek. This situation is not limited to - but is not uncommon in - scientific and engineering environments. 

Changing a Tour of Duty 

Assignments to tours of duty must be scheduled in advance of the administrative workweek over periods of not less than one week. A regularly scheduled administrative workweek must be rescheduled whenever it is known in advance that based on work requirements the specific days and hours of a day actually required of an employee will differ from those required in the current administrative workweek. The employee shall be informed of the change and the change must be recorded on the employee’s time and attendance report.

An employee's tour may not be changed solely to avoid paying premium pay to which the employee would otherwise be entitled or to avoid the costs incurred because of a holiday, absence for military or court leave, absence resulting from an on-the-job injury, or absence in connection with funerals of immediate relatives in the armed forces.

Rescheduling could be required for such purposes as to permit an employee’s attendance in a training class (as described below) or conference, when an employee under an Alternative Work Schedule (AWS) is in travel status at a location not under an AWS, or to substitute for an absent employee’s tour of duty. See section titled Alternative Work Schedules.

Rescheduling for Educational Purposes . A special tour of duty may be authorized to permit an employee to take one or more courses at college, university, or other educational institution. In this situation, the courses cannot be training under the Government Employees’ Training Act; the rescheduling will not prevent the employee from accomplishing required work; additional costs for personal services will not be incurred; and completion of the courses will equip the employee for more effective work in the agency.

Varied work hours under this heading must be requested by the employee in writing.

Scheduling Travel

Employee travel should be scheduled to take place during regular working hours to the extent possible. However, an employee may be required to travel on personal time, e.g., after normal working hours, on weekends or a holiday. A supervisor who requires an employee to perform travel on personal time, when such travel is not compensable by premium pay (see Part II, Pay Handbook, Premium Pay), must, if the employee requests it, provide reasons in writing for ordering the employee to travel during those hours. A copy of the statement must be retained with the employee's time and attendance report.

Scheduling Lunch Periods

The law and regulation do not specifically address "lunch periods". 5 U.S.C. 6101(a)(3)(F) includes a prohibition against breaks in employee working hours of more than one hour (the Office of Personnel Management cites this law as the authority for allowing employees a non-compensable lunch break). It is practice throughout government that any workday of five hours or more include a 30-minute non-compensable lunch period. This may be extended to one hour if the workday is correspondingly extended.

An employee may not work through the lunch period in order to extend paid time or to otherwise modify his or her established schedule. 

Scheduling Breaks

Compensable rest periods during the workday may be authorized for health and safety or efficiency reasons. Rest periods must not exceed 15 minutes during each four hour period of work. They must not be scheduled immediately before or after lunch periods or at the start or end of a workday. Employees are generally not authorized to leave the work place during rest periods because they are in pay status (Comp. Gen. B-1190011, dated December 30, 1977). 

Scheduling Preparation and Clean Up Time

A reasonable amount of the scheduled workday may be set aside for preparation and clean up activities. If this kind of activity cannot be included in an employee's scheduled work-day, up to 30 minutes overtime may be authorized. 

Daylight Savings Time

An employee working on a shift when daylight savings time goes into effect will be credited with the actual number of hours worked on that shift. If an employee is not permitted to work an additional hour, the hour lost in the change to daylight savings time will be charged to annual leave, accrued compensatory time, accrued credit hours, if on a flexible alternative work schedule, or leave without pay (LWOP) as appropriate. An employee working on shift upon return to standard time is credited for the actual number of hours worked on that shift.

Official Time and Resources by Members of the National Guard and Armed Forces Reserves

Supervisors may approve limited use of official time and agency resources for National Guard or Armed Forces Reserves members for Guard or Reserve activities during the employee’s regular working hours if the use involves minimal expense to the Government and does not interfere with official business. An example is when the employee/Reserve member is required to verbally contact other Reserve unit members and report back to the Reserve center by voice or fax of the unit members’ availability. 

The use of such time and resources should be limited to situations where the employee is called upon to complete some incidental Guard or Reserve function that the employee cannot reasonably schedule for non-working hours or for which he or she cannot make reasonable arrangements to carry out elsewhere. The Guard or Reserve activity must not interfere with the agency’s mission and the employee’s responsibility to the agency. Employees are to obtain supervisory approval prior to performing incidental Guard or Reserve activities during working hours. (See GAO Opinion B-277678, January 4, 1999)

Updated October 2000.

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Military Tour Of Duty: Lengths And Important Details

Joining the military is a noble and challenging decision. It requires dedication, sacrifice, and a willingness to serve your country. One important aspect to consider when embarking on a military career is the length of your tour of duty. In this article, we will explore the different lengths of military tours and provide important details to help you make an informed decision.

1. Short-Term Tours

Short-term tours typically last for a period of one to two years. These tours are commonly associated with specific missions or assignments, such as peacekeeping operations or training programs. Short-term tours provide an opportunity to gain valuable experience and skills within a condensed timeframe.

1.1 Benefits of Short-Term Tours

– Rapid skill development: Short-term tours often involve intense training and hands-on experience, allowing you to acquire skills quickly.

– Variety of assignments: With shorter tours, you have the opportunity to work on multiple assignments, which can broaden your skillset and knowledge base.

– Flexibility: Short-term tours can offer more flexibility in terms of location and assignment choices, allowing you to experience different environments and cultures.

1.2 Considerations for Short-Term Tours

– Frequent relocations: Short-term tours often require frequent relocations, which can be challenging for individuals with families or those who prefer stability.

– Limited time for personal relationships: Due to the shorter duration of these tours, it can be difficult to establish and maintain personal relationships.

– Adjustment period: The fast-paced nature of short-term tours may require a quicker adjustment period to new environments and responsibilities.

2. Standard Tours

Standard tours are the most common type of military tour and typically range from three to four years in length. These tours provide a more stable and predictable environment compared to short-term tours.

2.1 Benefits of Standard Tours

– Stability: Standard tours offer a longer period of stability in terms of location and assignment, allowing you to establish a routine and build relationships.

– Career progression: Longer tours provide more opportunities for career advancement and specialization within a specific field.

– Community integration: With standard tours, you have the chance to become part of a community and develop lasting connections with fellow service members and their families.

2.2 Considerations for Standard Tours

– Longer separation from home: Due to the extended length of standard tours, you may experience longer periods of separation from loved ones.

– Limited flexibility: Standard tours may offer less flexibility in terms of location and assignment choices compared to short-term tours.

– Potential monotony: The longer duration of standard tours may lead to a sense of monotony or routine in certain assignments.

3. Extended Tours

Extended tours refer to military assignments that exceed the standard tour length. These tours can range from five to ten years or longer, depending on the specific circumstances and needs of the military.

3.1 Benefits of Extended Tours

– Expertise development: Extended tours allow for in-depth specialization and expertise development within a particular field or assignment.

– Stability and continuity: With extended tours, you can provide stability and continuity in a specific role or location, which can be beneficial for complex operations or projects.

– Long-term planning: Extended tours offer the opportunity for long-term career planning and strategic decision-making.

3.2 Considerations for Extended Tours

– Extended separation from home: Extended tours may result in significant periods of separation from loved ones and the challenges that come with it.

– Limited variety of assignments: Longer tours may limit the variety of assignments and experiences compared to shorter tours.

– Potential burnout: The extended duration of these tours can lead to potential burnout or fatigue in certain roles or environments.

Choosing the length of your military tour of duty is an important decision that should be carefully considered. Short-term tours offer rapid skill development and flexibility, while standard tours provide stability and career progression. Extended tours allow for expertise development and long-term planning. Consider your personal circumstances, career goals, and family situation when making this decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. can i request a specific tour length.

It depends on the needs of the military and the specific assignment. While you can express your preferences, the final decision ultimately rests with the military.

2. Are there any exceptions to the standard tour lengths?

Yes , there can be exceptions based on operational requirements or individual circumstances. These exceptions are typically determined on a case-by-case basis.

3. Can I switch tour lengths during my military career?

In some cases, it may be possible to switch tour lengths during your military career. However, this would depend on various factors, including the needs of the military and your own qualifications and experience.

4. How does the length of my tour affect my benefits and entitlements?

The length of your tour can impact your benefits and entitlements, such as healthcare coverage, housing allowances, and retirement benefits. It is essential to consult with your military unit or personnel office for specific information regarding your situation.

5. Can I extend my tour if I want to continue serving?

Extending your tour is a possibility, but it would need to be approved by the military based on operational requirements and your own qualifications and performance.

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Meaning of tour of duty in English

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• assault course
• civil defense
• military honors
• military service
• national service
• obstacle course
• passing-out
• reconnaissance

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to build a nest, or live in a nest

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The first TV series about the Vietnam War, Tour of Duty focuses on a single platoon of young U.S. soldiers during their one-year tour of combat duty in Vietnam during the late 1960s. Terence Knox, Stephen Caffrey, Joshua Maurer, Steve Akahoshi, Tony Becker, Eric Bruskotter, Stan Foster, Ramon Franco, Miguel A. Nunez, Jr. and Kevin Conroy star as the infantrymen who represent diverse racial, cultural and philosophical backgrounds that must ultimately depend on one another to face enemy troops and survive in the hostile Southeast Asian terrain. Full of thrilling combat action, Tour of Duty also goes deeper to portray the dramatic human side of war and the camaraderie of the men who gave their all for their country.

20 Episodes

S1 e1 - pilot, s1 e2 - notes from the underground, s1 e3 - dislocations, s1 e4 - war lover, s1 e5 - sitting ducks, s1 e6 - burn, baby, burn, s1 e7 - brothers, fathers and sons, s1 e8 - the good, the bad and the dead, s1 e9 - battling baker brothers, s1 e10 - nowhere to run, s1 e11 - roadrunner, s1 e12 - pushin' too hard, s1 e13 - uso down, s1 e14 - under siege, s1 e15 - soldiers, s1 e16 - gray-brown odyssey, s1 e17 - blood brothers, s1 e18 - the short timer, s1 e19 - paradise lost, s1 e20 - angel of mercy.

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Definition of duty

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of duty  (Entry 2 of 2)

function , office , duty , province mean the acts or operations expected of a person or thing.

function implies a definite end or purpose or a particular kind of work.

office is typically applied to the function or service associated with a trade or profession or a special relationship to others.

duty applies to a task or responsibility imposed by one's occupation, rank, status, or calling.

province applies to a function, office, or duty that naturally or logically falls to one.

task , duty , job , chore , stint , assignment mean a piece of work to be done.

task implies work imposed by a person in authority or an employer or by circumstance.

duty implies an obligation to perform or responsibility for performance.

job applies to a piece of work voluntarily performed; it may sometimes suggest difficulty or importance.

chore implies a minor routine activity necessary for maintaining a household or farm.

stint implies a carefully allotted or measured quantity of assigned work or service.

assignment implies a definite limited task assigned by one in authority.

Examples of duty in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'duty.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Noun and Adjective

Middle English duete , from Anglo-French deueté, dueté , from deu due

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

1806, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing duty

• active duty
• beyond the call of duty
• double duty
• duty - free
• duty to retreat
• heavy - duty
• in the line of duty
• line of duty
• report for duty
• succession duty
• temporary duty
• went beyond the call of duty

Dictionary Entries Near duty

Cite this entry.

“Duty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duty. Accessed 11 Jun. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of duty, legal definition, legal definition of duty.

Anglo-French deuté indebtedness, obligation, from deu owing, due, from Old French see due

More from Merriam-Webster on duty

Nglish: Translation of duty for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of duty for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about duty

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