by Jacqueline Goodrich, Ask the Milies

My husband is convinced that when he deploys and I go into labor that he can come home on emergency leave and be able to stay for a month... Is this true or is someone pulling his leg? ~Brigette 

Congratulations on the addition to your family, Brigette!

Personally I have never heard of a service member getting emergency leave for a normal pregnancy and delivery. However, if your husband is going to be gone long enough that he gets two weeks of R and R usually they give births top priority. That means he would be sent home around your due date, and as close as possible to it. The leave time is still 14-15 days (that just really depends on the time of day he gets back to the states) and can only be extended in a medical emergency. One thing he should do right away is check with his chain of command about the military’s fairly new paternity leave policy. New fathers are given extra leave time but during a deployment they may not be able to spare him for that long. Only his command will know the answer to that one.