There’s a cadence in the Army: if the Army gives you $100, they will take back $99. There is something fundamentally wrong when the U.S. government tells a service member, “Thank you for your sacrifice,” and then turns around and takes away benefits they have earned.

That’s exactly what happens under the military’s outdated 60-day leave carryover cap. Leave is not a handout. It is not a bonus. Leave is earned compensation. Every day of leave on a service member’s record was earned through deployments, training exercises, missed holidays, missed birthdays, missed anniversaries, and countless hours spent serving the nation.