Pentagon to Pay for Troops’ R&R; Travel

Military officials said Tuesday that the Pentagon soon will begin paying travel expenses for troops to get all the way home on two-week leaves from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Until now, America’s largest rest and recuperation program since the Vietnam War has flown soldiers only to three cities in the United States and two in Germany, requiring them to pay for connecting flights to go farther.

But officials said Tuesday they were working up a plan for the Defense Department to reimburse troops for connecting flights out of a $55-million allocation from funds authorized for the Pentagon in the coming year.