I just posted this on the other forum, but basically this is how it works

- in the 12 months he is gone, he will have a 2 week leave (we call it r&r)- he will fly home to the states and have 14 days from the time he gets to the states

- they can request a certain time for leave, but it is never guaranteed

- after they make the request, there are several factors that affect whether he will have the time he requested (his rank, reason for the request, who else has requested leave for the same time, and why that person has requested leave)

- only so many guys can come home at one time, so if there are 'more important' reasons people have asked for that time period, he won't be given r&r over those days

- even when he is given a time frame, the dates are never exact- something can always happen at the last minute to cause the dates to change- when this happens, it is always last minute :(

Other than R&R, there are no other options. That is the only time he can take off while he is deployed.

If he can't come home, my best suggestion is to send him a video.

even if he CAN figure out a way to come home, you might want to check with him if thats what he wants to do. While he is gone, im sure he'll miss his friend and all, but family is the most important i'm sure and he might want to save that time for them. Just make sure you check with him about it before you ask him to try and come home for the wedding. My fiance is deploying 2010 also and if it were me, i would just have to count him out and like mh123 says, send him a video. theres not really much you can do.

Thanks again. Ive def already thought of the video idea. I was actually going to do that as a surprise for my FI.  He wants to be at our wedding as much as we want him there. His whole family and wife will be at our wedding also regardless if he is or not. So we'll see....

One of my Fi's Groomsmen--knew he might be leaving--so he scheduled his leave around the wedding..I hope he gets to come home if not it's okay. I mean--I'm not going to have a heartattack over it--its the army life--Unpredictable.

Sorry to hear you are sad.