Orders Hold
How to pause a commission for deployment, TDY, mobilisation, PCS or bereavement.
An Orders Hold pauses every clock in your commission. Timelines, review checkpoints, payment milestones — all of it stops, and none of it resumes until you say so.
What it covers
- Deployment
- TDY
- Mobilisation
- A PCS
- Bereavement
What it costs
Nothing. There is no fee, no penalty, and no change to what you agreed to pay.
What you have to prove
Nothing.
No orders, no dates, no documentation of any kind. You ask for a hold and the hold is placed. The studio does not ask what for, and does not follow up asking whether you are back.
The reason is straightforward. Anyone who has had to produce paperwork to a civilian vendor in the week before a deployment knows exactly how much that week has in it. Requiring proof would make the hold worth less than not having one.
How to request it
One line to the studio, in whatever form is easiest. "Orders Hold" is enough. It does not need explaining and it will not be questioned.
What happens while it is held
Work stops where it is. Nothing is deleted, nothing degrades, nothing expires.
You receive one note confirming the hold is in place, and then nothing further until you make contact. No check-ins, no progress updates, no reminders that you have work waiting.
Coming back
One line, again. The studio picks up at the stage you left, resends anything you were mid-review on, and re-states where things stand so you are not reconstructing it from memory.
If it is bereavement
The same hold applies, with one difference: no invoice is issued during the hold, and none is issued in the period after it. If the death is the honoree's, see when the honoree dies.