[Request for Decision Regarding Change to Joint Travel Regulations]

The Department of Defense's Per Diem, Travel, and Transportation Allowance Committee requested a decision regarding a proposed change to the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) that would allow service members to ship their privately owned vehicles at government expense, incident to their transfer within the continental United States and contingent upon the availability of water transportation. The Committee noted that some members may have difficulty driving their privately owned vehicles to a new duty station, given physical or time constraints. GAO held that there would be no statutory bar to such a change. Accordingly, JTR may be amended to provide that service members who are physically unable to drive or are given insufficient time to drive to a new duty station may be allowed transportation of a privately owned vehicle within the continental United States, contingent upon the reasonable availability of water transportation.