Another Reason to File Your Travel Voucher

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Jason Schenck
  • 36th Comptroller Squadron
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam --  Every time I return from temporary duty, I am always quick to file my travel voucher. This affords me the opportunity to pay off my government travel card, offset any personal funds I may have used and hopefully have some money left over to buy something nice. Who doesn't want to get paid quickly, right? Well, to my surprise, many folks are not in a rush to file their vouchers.
The DoD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 9, requires all travelers to file a voucher within five duty days of returning from TDY. The requirement is even a remark on your orders as a reminder. However, despite this directive thousands of travelers across the Air Force wait weeks or even months to file. At last count, Team Andersen had 73 travelers who failed to file a voucher within five days. Now, I know you may be thinking, "Their loss!" but, actually, we all lose!
Right now, $177,000 Team Andersen are affected by delinquent travel vouchers. You see, whenever a member or employee travels on TDY, the unit sets aside funds to cover the costs. These funds stay in a reserved status until a travel voucher is filed. Once the voucher is processed, the reserved funds are applied to the actual costs and the remaining funds are returned back to the unit to execute against other mission needs.
However, when a traveler does not file a voucher, the reserved funds become tied up. As a result, the unit's ability to purchase needed mission requirements becomes restricted. This is particularly dangerous toward the end of the fiscal year when units have limited time to buy essential items.
So, how do we combat this problem? First, if you return from a TDY, file your voucher within the prescribed five duty days. If your TDY is cancelled, follow-up with your unit to ensure the travel order was cancelled. Additionally, the comptroller squadron works an outstanding travel orders listing. If your name appears on the listing, a comptroller representative will contact you; if that does not work, commanders will be notified next.
In some cases, you may have filed your voucher and it may be your organization's Defense Travel Administrator who needs to take action.
Also, do not forget to file emergency leave travel vouchers. These vouchers also tie up funds to cover transportation expenses. As an added bonus, emergency leave vouchers will ensure you are not charged leave on the travel days to/from the emergency leave location. Finally, please feel free to contact the comptroller squadron at 366-5885 if you have any questions.
Ultimately, filing your travel voucher is an easy task and benefits everyone. Team Andersen, let's work together to ensure we can use our money as a weapon system to accomplish the mission. After all, "No money, no Mission!"