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Active duty

 
Idioms: active duty

Full-time service, as in Julian is 81, but he still comes to the office every day and is very much on active duty. This term comes from the military, where it stands in opposition to reserve, which refers to troops still in the military but not actively engaged. It is occasionally transferred to civilian matters as well. [First half of 1800s]


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US Military Dictionary: active duty
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AD

The playing of a direct role in the operational work of the armed forces as opposed to doing administrative work.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Military Dictionary: active duty
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(DOD) Full-time duty in the active military service of the United States. This includes members of the Reserve Components serving on active duty or full-time training duty, but does not include full-time National Guard duty. Also called AD. See also active duty for training; inactive duty training.

Wikipedia: Active duty
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Active duty refers to a full-time occupation as part a military force, as opposed to reserve duty.

Israel

In the Israel Defense Forces, there are two types of active duty: regular service (Hebrew: שרות סדיר‎, Sherut Sadir), and active reserve duty (Hebrew: שרות מילואים פעילSherut Milu'im Pa'il, abbr. Shamap). Regular service refers to either mandatory service (Hebrew: שרות חובה‎, Sherut Hova), according to the laws of Israel, or standing army service (Hebrew: שרות קבע‎, Sherut Keva), which consists of paid NCOs and officers.

Active reserve service refers to the actual time in which reservists are called up. This varies from once every few years to a month every year. During active reserve duty, military law can be applied to reservists, similarly to regular soldiers.

United States

In the United States military, active duty refers to military members who are currently serving full time in their military capacity. Members of a reserve component are not generally considered active duty. However, in support of the Global War on Terror and other contingency operations, a large number of Reservists in all branches have been called to active duty in an operational capacity. Many will argue that today's Reserve forces are no longer the "strategic" Reserve of the Cold War. Those Reservists deployed in support of contingency operations, either as a unit or by individual augmentation, are also considered active duty. These terms may also be applied to military forces of other nations, although the details concerning obligations to serve may differ. Verification of active military duty status may be made at www.ServicemembersCivilReliefAct.com.


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Military Dictionary. US Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Words, 2003.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Active duty" Read more