active duty

noun

, Military.

1. the status of full-time service:

   on active duty.

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

His last Defense secretary, Mark Esper, and his appointee as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark A. Milley, resisted his proposal in 2020 to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy active duty troops against demonstrators in Washington and other cities.

From Los Angeles Times

In a retirement speech in September 2023, Milley — who worries about being recalled to active duty and court-martialed under a new Trump administration, according to Woodward’s latest book, “War” — offered an indirect commentary widely presumed to refer to the former president: “We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen, to a tyrant or dictator, or wannabe dictator.”

From Los Angeles Times

Identity, his experience of the justice system as well as his time in the Army on active duty in Germany and Northern Ireland, are often themes that feature in his paintings.

From BBC

When Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies searched a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent’s home last month, court records show they found DEA credentials modified to make it appear that he was still on active duty, along with 30,000 rounds of ammunition, several grenades and a cache of 15 different firearms — including a sawed-off shotgun and four others illegal to own under California law.

From Los Angeles Times

The recent ruling could open the door to her return to active duty in another unit, such as the LAPD’s training division.

From Los Angeles Times