Since July 13, the Defense Department has authorized active duty service members deployed for 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan to earn 18 days of leave for rest and recuperation (R&R). Because of the time differential between the United States and the theaters, the policy actually began for deployed soldiers on July 14. Since the Army is the only service with standard 15-month deployments, the DoD order will not affect the other services. Troops on 12-month deployments will still get 15 days of R&R. The extra days of authorization are not retroactive.