What exatcly is Stop Loss? And what purpose does it serve?

Question

Should this affect my daughters re-enlistment? She was up in may of this year and now it will be another year longer due to this.

Answer 1

When you sign an enlistment contract, there's small print at the end that basically says you have to fulfill your end of the deal, but the government can change any of the clauses at any time. So the stop loss is legal.

They use the stop loss to make sure that a unit has enough personnel to deploy effectively. They don't let anyone out of that unit for any reason once the stop loss is in effect. Generally, anyone who is stop-lossed can leave about 90 days after the unit returns from the deployment. In some cases they can leave earlier.

If your daughter was already planning on re-enlisting, the stop loss won't affect her. Example: my husband's original ETS date was October 2005. He deployed in September 2005, so he was stop-lossed because his ETS date fell during the deployment. At that point his ETS date became January 2007. As soon as he got to Kuwait, he re-enlisted for 6 years (the bonus was tax-free there). HIs new ETS date is when his contract expires. So the stop loss no longer affected him, and it wasn't really a big deal.

Answer 2

Stop Loss is a tool used by the Military to keep people in past their ETS, or retirement date. It is used mainly to keep people serving when there is not enough people serving to keep deployed units at full strength. They usually set a time period for the length.

It can affect your daughter if she was planning on getting out of the Navy, but not really if she was going to reenlist because she will still be able to reenlist. It may or may not take a little longer, depending on the reenlistment practices of her unit.

Answer 3

Stop Loss is enacted during times of national emergency. It prevents anybody from leaving military service for any reason, hence the name. Stop Loss was used right after 9/11. I know several senior NCOs who served an extra year or two because they were unable to retire. Also, it prevents any reservists who are called up from leaving active duty until it is ended.

Answer 4

Stop Loss is what is instituted prior to a deployment. It means that NO soldier can ETS or PCS past a certain date. Typically, if a deployment is coming in, say, November, stop loss will begin in August.
Basically, it's to ensure that soldiers that have received training together over the last year (in field exercises, et cetera) deploy together. It makes units more cohesive.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

It's a clause in the enlistment that says if they still need ya, they can keep ya...there's also a clause that says if they REALLY need her a few years later, even if she's out...they can pull her back in (bad godfather accent)

Answer 7

Steve's got it right. But it does not necessarily apply to all personnel. Often it applies to only a few MOS/AFSCs and then only until the shortage has ended.

Answer 8

stop loss, aka the backdoor draft, prevents members from separating or retiring at the previously contracted date. Its purported to serve the purpose of keeping needed skill set people to support urgent operations. It is of course a scam. The small print on enlistment contracts states they can do it, but it's not necessary, just convenient.