I concur, leave papers are, in fact, written military orders. Things may have changed, but, in my day, you were advised to carry a copy of travel orders/leave papers on you person at all times. Civilian police might ask for proof that you’re not AWOL and, when traveling, you might encounter military police authorities who WILL require you show some kind of authorization to establish your status.
I think the flight question harkens to earlier days when travel orders were given an authority level based upon necessity of the U.S. gov’t. As I recall they were rated from “A” to “AAAA”. This was in a time when air travel was not as common as it is today.
If you are on leave. any airline compensation is between you and the carrier, if you’re traveling under tranfer orders you will be reimbursed by the gov’t., for lodging, meals and auxillary transportation, and any civilian compensation will be deducted.
As Robin suggests, there may be some obfuscation in reporting civilian compensation by regulation wise personnel.
More likely it’s a figment of their imagination.
Leave papers are official military orders; however, that is not what’s used for re-entry to the United States. The military member presents his Active Duty ID card. Now, for certain countries, there is a requirement that miltiary personnel have either Official or Diplomatic passports. For those individuals, it is that passport they present for re-entry.
When I was in boot camp in the early 90s, we were told that some police departments paid a bounty to officers who apprehended AWOL personnel, and that many of these departments were of the “arrest first, question later” mindset. Having orders or leave papers on your person was supposed to prevent that.
[/quote]
If you are on leave. any airline compensation is between you and the carrier, if you’re traveling under tranfer orders you will be reimbursed by the gov’t., for lodging, meals and auxillary transportation, and any civilian compensation will be deducted.
As Robin suggests, there may be some obfuscation in reporting civilian compensation by regulation wise personnel.
[/QUOTE]
There is a certain amount of wink-wink nudge-nudge when it comes to airline compensation. I’ve been told that I could accept the airline’s offer of lodging, meals and transportation if they were paid for directly by the airline. I was also told (again, on the downlow) that the government has no way of knowing about cash compensation or other consideration for being bumped, except that I’d best be back to my duty station on time because I was still responsible for that barring verifiable emergency circumstances.
Robin
Here’s what I recall from the JFTR last time I checked it approaching ten years ago now: the military member will not be reimbursed for transportation if the transportation was provided at a discount rate not available to the general public. In other words, if the member takes a military discount fare for official travel, then he forfeits reimbursement.
Personal experience here: My flight to return from leave was canceled because a hurricane was on the way and the FAA grounded flights for the entire region. The airline gave me a form signed by their agent attesting that the airline had canceled the flight. I think the form’s name was similar to “Verificaiton for Military Personnel of Non-Availability of Scheduled Transportation.” It was the first thing I was asked to present when I reported into my new duty station.
I wonder if it was a jeep card.
Declan
These cards do not exist other than as a joke.
What about the Red Passport?
I’m not sure about the rest of the government, but the military no longer uses the Red Passport. The military’s “No Fee Passport” is blue and looks just like the tourist one. One can’t, however, use his tourist passport when the official no fee passport is required. Spouses traveling with their husbands also need an official no fee passport issued by the government. This is the passport that gets the SOFA Stamp.
Certain strange exceptions exist though. Like if you’re an American Serviceman bringing your Korean citizen wife to Germany on a SOFA Visa. US Government can’t issue no fee passports to non-citizens, so. . .
I had the Red Passport. I’m glad the military isn’t giving them out anymore - we always called it the shoot-me-first card.
Nowadays mine is expired and is just an interesting souvenir.
A bit of a related anecdote, since the OP’s been answered. I once read a book about the war in the Aleutians in WWII. According to this , as part of the Allied war effort, Canada sent a fighter squadron to Alaska. When the pilots arrived, ready to take on the enemy (who’d already seized two islands), they were held up by a minor American bureaucrat who demanded that they do all the customs and immigration paperwork required of any ordinary visitor. Emergency orders had to be put in place to get him to back off.
The red passport (actually, it’s maroon) is officially known as an Official Passport. It is issued to government personnel and their family members who are required by the pertinent treaties to have such passport in connection with their official travel.
The black passport (which, oddly enough for a government thing, really is as described, black) is officially known as the Diplomatic Passport.
The blue passport, aka tourist passport, is issued non a no-fee basis to authorized family members of military personnel who are accompanying said military personnel on official travel (“with dependents” tours).
The military never gave any of these passports out. The State Department issues them and diplomatic personnel still get the Diplomatic Passports, those required to have Official Passports still get them, and those authorized still get the No-Fee Passports.
Thanks for responding, all. My coworker and I are Officially Less Ignorant on the subject! 
Well, of course the military never issued them.
But it’s an easy thing to confuse since a person goes to the military Transportation Office on base (not the Post Office) to complete and submit documents to military personnel and attach the 2x2in photo they took and received from TASC (another military office, not Wal-Greens). Even though the military had to submit the request to another agency, it still plays a major roll in “giving it out.”
ETA: Not to mention the fact that the person must have specific military orders and a need for the passport to get it.
One doesn’t always go to the MTO for that purpose. There are other places: Unit Administration Office (which is where I was assigned when I was the Unit Passport Agent), Passport Agency, US Post Office (yes, the post office). A number of factors determine where the applicant goes to apply for the passport: if the local post office has a passport agent, if the applicant is too far from a military base with an assigned agent, etc.
Um, I have one. It’s in my safe. It’s still current (expires 2008 IIRC).
It does explicitly say on it though–“BEARER IS ON OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT TRAVEL”
Tripler
They’re still issuing them.
Can someone please explain what a “no fee passport” is?
He said “military” not air force. 
A “No Fee” US Passport is one for which the bearer is not charged an application fee. Note that the bearer will be charged a notary fee if they apply at a post office for the passport. “No Fee” Passports are issued to Command Sponsored family members (that’s the PC term for Command Sponsored dependents).