A reader writes:
Officers already pretty much have sabbaticals. If you want to make Field Grade rank, you pretty much have to get a Master's Degree and the military is already VERY generous with letting their officers go and get them. I know officers that have gone to Ivy League schools for their Master's in pretty much any subject they want. My boss went to Columbia and lived with his family at Fort Hamilton while he did it. Another officer I worked with went to the Kennedy School of Government. I ran into another officer friend of mine who went to the Naval Post Grad school for his Master's in Electrical Engineering and was only required to pay two years back.
No, the people that this is really aimed at are the enlisted folk. Now that I have 19 years, 11 months in the military and am getting ready to retire in a month, its too late for me, but I am glad they are thinking about it. It was very difficult to get into a degree program while on active duty, and I would have loved to get into one, but as a linguist, I was way too busy. I really could have used two years off to finish my Bachelor's and been that much better a sailor.