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Guest JerseyGirl

Definitely everyone...we are overseas and when we travel, we all use our own passports (not the no-fee passports) and drivers licenses (not our military IDs), like CARSA indictated...not that my husband's haircut or the fact that we are are all blonde, blue eyed 'beauties' (at least I like to think so ;) !) in Asia could give us away as probably American military...but, no need to really shout it out!

Though your question is kind of vague....what exactly are you looking at? And I thought I remember reading back a few weeks (not here, but in the newspaper, I think) that all Americans would soon have to get a passport?? Or did I make that up???!

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CARSA's memory serves him well. That's still all you need.

Force protection considerations are another story. My family travels like Jersey Girl's and we are overseas now as well. Of course, when traveling between EU countries, you don't need a passport. You only need one if entering/crossing borders of non-EU countries.

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Originally posted by CARSA:

in the late 90's I traveled internationally with my active duty ID and leave orders.

As of two years ago, you were still "allowed" to do this in Europe, but nobody I know did it because it was apparently such a pain in the a$$.

Get passports for everybody. We get a passport for my son when he was two days old.

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Guest Hydro130

FWIW, I think having a (civilian) passport just makes good common sense. Even if you don't have a regular/immediate or anticipated need for it, it's awfully nice to have handy when it may be needed on short notice. Having to scramble for one last-minute is a PITA and even more $$$.

I know they aren't necessarily cheap, but as a military member, I think it's unwise not to have one for all of your family members. I used my civilian passport for personal travel a lot (even when on orders); it made life easier and didn't attract the unneeded attention a govt passport might.

Cheers, Hydro

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  • 8 months later...

I've tried searching this and still have not found exactly what I am looking for. Okay, here goes...

I am taking 30 days of leave to go to New Zealand space A from TCM with my wife in about 8 weeks. ( I am an AD LT and she is obviously my dependant) Anyway, the more that we try and wrap this thing up we keep getting hit with these different issues. The current one is passports. So...

Where is the best/cheapest/quickest place to get a regular passport

I am at a AETC base right now, any chance I could get a mil. passport for free

Is there anyway around dropping $400 to get a passport we'll only use once (like maybe we just need to carry a mil ID and birth certificate)

Also, side note. What do you guys know about the Ice mission out of Christchurch, NZ? Is there alot of traffic going back and forth to the CONUS?

Thanks for the help.

barney

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Guest gunnercalvin

It depends on your base. I am unsure about CONUS bases, however at overseas locations they do have a base passport office. I know when I needed to get my passport quick to go back to the States for leave, they were able to expedite it without any extra charge. If you do have one on base I would highly advise you look into that. If not, then I would just attempt to contact the passport issuing office you'll be getting it from and explaining the situation to them. You being in the military might help that situation. As far as ways around it, I personally have flown on normal TDY orders/leave form into Germany and the UK, however for other countries I've been required to produce official NATO travel orders. Long story short, it is in your best interest to get a personal passport not only for this trip, but any other time you may find the military put you some place you are able to use it (i.e. an overseas assignment/return from deployment leave.) You are able to get an official passport, but it requires unit justification and can only be used on official travel. You won't get one out of AETC because you will not be using it unless you end up pulling an overseas assignment and that location requires one. Hope that helps! If you have more questions, feel free to PM me.

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Try the State Department's 'How To Get A Passport Quickly web site'...

- Cost, in addition to regular application fees, is $60 per application plus overnight delivery costs.

- Two-way overnight delivery is strongly suggested.

- If you mail in - clearly mark Expedited on the envelope.

- Anyone may request expedited service for any type of application (e.g., first-time applications, renewals, amendments of existing passports, etc.) See:

- How do I change my name on my passport?

- How to add extra visa pages to my passport?

- How do I apply to renew my passport?

- Passport applications sent together or at the same time do not necessarily remain together.

- Passports will be mailed separately.

- After you apply - You will receive your passport: Normally, it takes 2-3 weeks to receive your passport from the date you applied. If you haven’t received your passport and are traveling within the next 7 days, please contact the National Passport Information Center.

And you can't use or get an official passport for personal travel.

Cheers! M2

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I've tried searching this and still have not found exactly what I am looking for. Okay, here goes...

I am taking 30 days of leave to go to New Zealand space A from TCM with my wife in about 8 weeks. ( I am an AD LT and she is obviously my dependant) Anyway, the more that we try and wrap this thing up we keep getting hit with these different issues. The current one is passports. So...

Where is the best/cheapest/quickest place to get a regular passport

I am at a AETC base right now, any chance I could get a mil. passport for free

Is there anyway around dropping $400 to get a passport we'll only use once (like maybe we just need to carry a mil ID and birth certificate)

Also, side note. What do you guys know about the Ice mission out of Christchurch, NZ? Is there alot of traffic going back and forth to the CONUS?

Thanks for the help.

barney

You'll have to get a passport. (blue one)

No, there is NOT a lot of traffic between Christchurch, NZ and CONUS. Last year, the only time a jet came into or left Christchurch from the CONUS (during Operations DEEP FREEZE) was during the crew swap outs which only happens every 3 to 5 weeks (normally) and usually have very little room for Space A's.

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Barney - Might be a dumb question, but have you tried MPF?

I just recently applied for a second personal passport for myself, my wife, and my son as well as a diplomatic passport for myself. At the last two bases I have been at, MPF had a specific individual whose primary job was passports.

Go here to enter your info and print out the form (it will provide you a pdf file). Print it out, bring it to MPF, and they'll should do everything else for you.

Is there anyway around dropping $400 to get a passport we'll only use once (like maybe we just need to carry a mil ID and birth certificate)

Who in the world says they're going to charge you this much? You're still going to have to pay for a personal passport through MPF, but it was nowhere near $400. Accoding to the US Dept of State Website, it's $67 plus a $30 processing fee. I don't know the actual regs, but I know that when I was in England we were allowed to use our leave papers and a military ID in place of a passport. This was "approved" but nobody did it for a couple reasons:

1) You're travelling around overseas flashing your military ID overseas, which I hate doing.

2) On the off chance you get the OCONUS TSA equivalent who doesn't know about this reg, you're screwed. I have heard of (though never experienced) this happening and guys got shafted for their flights.

I am at a AETC base right now, any chance I could get a mil. passport for free

You can, but only if you have orders to deploy or PCS overseas.

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Sweet. Thanks for the good replies. Toro, I got the $400 figure from calling around different postal shops. It was $95 for an 8 week turnaround or $169 for an expedited 3 week turnaround (x2 for my wife=roughly $400). Anyway, I did not think about the MPF. That sounds like our best bet. How long was the turn around for you?

C17 driver- what do you think our chances are of getting out of NZ in the following scenario... Leave TCM on Dec 12, stay a week in NZ, then look for the first flight out of there. I will be on 30 days of leave so the way I see it is that I will have about 3 weeks to catch somebody going to the states. My no sh*t date back to states is my RNLT date 18 Jan to Little Rock for the RTU. I've also heard that alot of the jets are relatively empty because it is the middle of the DEEP FREEZE "season" if you will and most of the shtuff is already down there and won't be coming back full up untill later in the year. Just curious if you are a 446th guy or 62nd. Does the 62nd even fly DEEP FREEZE?

Thanks for the inputs

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Toro, I got the $400 figure from calling around different postal shops.

Highway robbery

It was $95 for an 8 week turnaround or $169 for an expedited 3 week turnaround (x2 for my wife=roughly $400).

Still seems steep. I'm sure MPF has some sort of rush fee, but I doubt it's that much -- especially if you can get a sympathetic clerk (oxymoron?) who will hook you up.

How long was the turn around for you?

I don't recall exactly, but I seem to remember it being somewhere around a month.

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C17 driver- what do you think our chances are of getting out of NZ in the following scenario... Leave TCM on Dec 12, stay a week in NZ, then look for the first flight out of there. I will be on 30 days of leave so the way I see it is that I will have about 3 weeks to catch somebody going to the states. My no sh*t date back to states is my RNLT date 18 Jan to Little Rock for the RTU.

I would say it's a 50% chance.

I've also heard that alot of the jets are relatively empty because it is the middle of the DEEP FREEZE "season" if you will and most of the shtuff is already down there and won't be coming back full up untill later in the year. Just curious if you are a 446th guy or 62nd. Does the 62nd even fly DEEP FREEZE?

The Commander of the squadron at Christchurch that runs the C-17 mission is Active Duty (62d). The 62d and 446th split the requirement when it comes to crews flying the mission. I was a "62d" guy but have since moved on. Honestly, I can't remember any space A's on the jet on the way out or on the way back. But if you want to give it a shot, good luck! I'm not sure who you talked to or what you mean by the jets being empty because the stuff is already down there. When the jets swap out (how it used to work), the space in the back was split between cargo and swap out folks.

Personally, based on the experience I had with DEEP FREEZE (the enroute portion --- KTCM - NZ and back) and other worldwide missions, I wouldn't try to Space A. I'd just buy the plane ticket and enjoy more time down there. Last year, on the way out and the way back, we never knew if we were actually going to get the jet or where we were going to end up that day or when we were going to get home until the morning of the alert. On the way home from NZ we got "stuck" in Hawaii with no jet (of course we didn't complain, but it would be painful if you were trying to get home Space A).

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I would say it's a 50% chance.

The Commander of the squadron at Christchurch that runs the C-17 mission is Active Duty (62d). The 62d and 446th split the requirement when it comes to crews flying the mission. I was a "62d" guy but have since moved on. Honestly, I can't remember any space A's on the jet on the way out or on the way back. But if you want to give it a shot, good luck! I'm not sure who you talked to or what you mean by the jets being empty because the stuff is already down there. When the jets swap out (how it used to work), the space in the back was split between cargo and swap out folks.

Personally, based on the experience I had with DEEP FREEZE (the enroute portion --- KTCM - NZ and back) and other worldwide missions, I wouldn't try to Space A. I'd just buy the plane ticket and enjoy more time down there. Last year, on the way out and the way back, we never knew if we were actually going to get the jet or where we were going to end up that day or when we were going to get home until the morning of the alert. On the way home from NZ we got "stuck" in Hawaii with no jet (of course we didn't complain, but it would be painful if you were trying to get home Space A).

Will have to concur here. I fly the LC-130 ice mission, and the C-17 from what I understand sticks around at CHC for quite sometime. Seeing as how ODF only goes from October (starting today as a matter of fact) to February, the C-17 guys only rotate out after certain periods of time, plus Space A is VERY rare. Any C-17 guy with the 62nd who has done this mission please chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

I agree on buying the plane ticket. Space A is never reliable from all the people I've heard who have done it.

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  • 6 months later...

Might as well ask......

Anyone figure out how to get the AF to pay for a civilian (tourist) passport? We're in the process of getting the official ones to get to our OCONUS location, but everyone says you need the blue one once you get there to travel around. Ideas?

Or, better yet...do you really need both a civilian & a government/no-fee passport? I'vd heard from people who say you HAVE to have one, and I've met folks who just returned from a long OCONUS tour and never had the government one to begin with....

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I paid $160 and got one in 30 minutes, this was actually going to the Passport Center, lucky for me there is one in Denver. Showed the clerk my Offical passport and sweet talked her for fast service. Not sure but might be one in WA, you can check on the .gov site.

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I just got some new passports for myself and my family, so I will try and answer this. I have 2 Official Passports (brown covers). Some "countries" don't want to see an exit or entry stamp from certain "other" countries. Check the FCG to see the countries. I do alot of traveling, so I make sure I am showing the right passport when entering or exiting certain countries. It was no big deal to justify two. It is not a status thing. It is to avoid problems at your sometimes less than friendly border control station. These passports are only to be used on offical travel so says the stamp in the back of the passport.

I also have a blue "personal" passport that I use when on vacation. It is not as overstamped as my official, but other than showing that I am an American citizen, it does not ID me as connected to the Gov't (haircut?). Depending on where you are in the world, be ready to show an ID card though when outside the US and using the personal passport. The ID card shows you are are a SOFA person and not some dude just trying to coming into their country and get on their welfare rolls.

The personal tourist passport comes out of your pocket. The tourist passport also helps with OPSEC. I do know guys that have traveled for 3 years on only a tourist passport both on official and personal travels. I personally would not want to chance that. A border agent with an attitude is the worst. I was a crew member when a pax wanted to go to the bathroom on a stopover. Instead of going to the bathroom we always used, he went into the terminal. When he tried coming out through customs, he was stopped for over an hour, while we cajoled the agents to release the pax and promised to never let it happen again.

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Might as well ask......

Anyone figure out how to get the AF to pay for a civilian (tourist) passport? We're in the process of getting the official ones to get to our OCONUS location, but everyone says you need the blue one once you get there to travel around. Ideas?

Or, better yet...do you really need both a civilian & a government/no-fee passport? I'vd heard from people who say you HAVE to have one, and I've met folks who just returned from a long OCONUS tour and never had the government one to begin with....

Wife and I were never told or even knew to get an official passport. Had to get a VISA when we got here and they put it right in her tourist PP with no issues. Just because it worked for us doesn't mean fortune will smile upon you as well :)

Edited by uhhello
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Might as well ask......

Anyone figure out how to get the AF to pay for a civilian (tourist) passport? We're in the process of getting the official ones to get to our OCONUS location, but everyone says you need the blue one once you get there to travel around. Ideas?

Or, better yet...do you really need both a civilian & a government/no-fee passport? I'vd heard from people who say you HAVE to have one, and I've met folks who just returned from a long OCONUS tour and never had the government one to begin with....

No you don't need both a personal (blue) and no-fee (blue) passport. The passports that your family will get will be blue passports, typically unless you are doing something out of the ordinary, like a diplomatic or something else. FWIW, I use my Official passport when traveling to from CONUS and to other stops over here that require it. My family has the blue no-fee and I have a personal (blue) passport for the non-NATO countries and NATO countries that require more than just an ID and leave form. We have never had a problem. If you've ever been to Turkey you will know that they are sometimes the world's worst when it comes to passports and visas. Just returned from there (military not stationed in Turkey need a passport for tourist travel there) for Spring Break and didn't have any issues. The family blue, no-fees say that the passport can only be used in conjunction with the bearer's residence abroad. Well, just like when traveling to/from the CONUS, travel between our current residence and any place in Europe is in conjunction with our residence here.

There are many who will disagree with what I wrote above. The bottom line is that in two tours here and lots of travel throughout Europe, we have had zero problems with it. Spend the money if you must, but be aware that you don't have to.

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Or, better yet...do you really need both a civilian & a government/no-fee passport? I'vd heard from people who say you HAVE to have one, and I've met folks who just returned from a long OCONUS tour and never had the government one to begin with....

Agree with all previous. Whether you HAVE to have one depends on where you go. When I went to the Heath, I was told by Seymour Johnson MPF that we had to have an official passport - both myself and my wife got one through MPF, along with a personal passport (also through MPF, but we paid out of pocket). Other than the PCS flight, my wife never used her official passport. My official passport went into my deployment folder and stayed there for three years. Some guys in the squadron did not have an official passport when they arrived.

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