[Claim for Temporary Duty Allowances]

A Marine Corps disbursing officer asked whether temporary duty allowances are payable to a member pursuant to travel under permanent change-of-station orders which were canceled and replaced by temporary additional-duty orders. The member received permanent change-of-station orders for 20 weeks of training. The orders referred to the place of training as a temporary duty station and stated that transfer of dependents and household goods were not authorized. The member reported for the training and subsequently received: (1) orders canceling the original orders; and (2) orders retroactive to the beginning of his training that directed him to remain at the place of training for 13 weeks of temporary duty. Upon his return to his original station, the Marine submitted a travel voucher claiming temporary duty allowance for the entire period. Joint Travel Regulations provide that a period of 20 or more weeks at a training site constitutes a permanent change-of-station. They further provide that permanent change-of-station orders may be canceled at any time before the orders have been fully executed, as in this case, and there is nothing to preclude a member from being ordered to perform a temporary duty assignment before returning to the permanent station. Therefore, GAO held that the permanent change-of-station orders could be canceled, but could not be retroactively changed, and that the temporary duty orders became valid on the date of their issuance and could not be backdated to increase or decrease the member's travel entitlements under the canceled orders. GAO ruled that the member was entitled to allowances for his travel under the original orders and to temporary duty allowances for the time after the issuance of the temporary duty orders. Accordingly, GAO returned the travel voucher for further processing consistent with its ruling.