Air Mobility Command and Air Force Global Strike Command recently issued their family day calendars for the rest of 2025. The switch to command-specific designation of family days was prompted by the Air Force's decision earlier this month to eliminate its central calendar, indicating when airmen would be granted an extra day off in addition to a holiday. (Daniel Ter Haar/U.S. Air Force)
Air Force major commands have begun rolling out family day calendars for the rest of the year, after the service ended its blanket schedule of an extra day off tacked on to a federal holiday.
Air Mobility Command and Air Force Global Strike Command published separate calendars in internal memos last week, each offering six family days but centered around different holidays in some cases.
Air Mobility Command’s plan skips family days attached to Labor Day and Veterans Day, while Air Force Global Strike Command’s omits the one near Juneteenth.
Both commands canceled family days tied to Columbus Day.
Neither matches the eight family days that had been scheduled across the Air Force for the remainder of 2025 before the policy was rescinded.
The four-day weekends that often result from family days are intended to improve quality of life for airmen. Civilian employees of the Air Force are generally not eligible for family days.
With the service’s eight other major commands yet to release their own calendars, the full impact of the policy shift remains to be seen.
The two calendars recently issued were created with both mission requirements and quality-of-life considerations in mind, representatives from both commands told Stars and Stripes via email.
Installation commanders have long held the authority to adjust or override family day observances based on mission needs, meaning the major command guidance serves as the default until superseded locally.
That flexibility means large groups of airmen may be off duty at some major commands while others remain regularly staffed.
The schedules put out by Air Mobility Command and Air Force Global Strike Command apply to airmen assigned directly to their respective headquarters as well as to installations under them, unless local commanders publish their own.
