Well, we got up and headed to McDonald’s for breakfast. WOO HOO!!!! Man, we missed that!!! Filled up on pancakes and McMuffin’s, we headed back to the hotel. There, I left Tracy & the kids to watch some TV and I went over to Hanscom AFB to apply for Ally’s government “no-fee” passport.
After driving around HAFB and going to three different buildings (they’ve changed this base quite a bit since I left it in ’97), I finally found the Mission Support Squadron’s Customer Service section. Signed in and waited for a half hour until the clerk waited on those before me. Finally went in the back, sat down and explained what was going on. Turns out that Ally needs to be on my orders and “Command Sponsored” before they can issue the military passport. I get all the information from them and go back to the hotel so I can call my unit in Belgium.
Belgium tells me that they need all the medical clearance paperwork from all the doctors before they can do that. I tell them that won’t be for another couple of weeks because they had to send out various blood tests. They tell me to call the USAFE folks in Stuttgart (they’re higher headquarters) to see what they can do.
I call Stuttgart and talk to the NCOIC there, explain everything again, etc. etc. etc. She stops me in the middle and asks “So your saying that she’s already been seen by a doctor there at SHAPE?” I reply, “Yes, that’s why were waiting for the blood tests.” She answers “Well, the whole purpose for the medical clearance forms is to see if there is a doctor there for your dependants. If she’s already been seen, obviously, there is someone there.” She writes down all my pertinent information and tells me that she’ll type up the command sponsorship letter and fax it to SHAPE and to Hanscom.
I drive back to Hanscom w/ Tracy & the kids and explain everything to the clerk. I make an appointment to see him tomorrow morning to finalize the paperwork once the sponsorship letter is faxed to him.
Well, in typical military fashion, the above paragraphs took me 4 ½ hours to accomplish. By now, it’s lunch time and the kids are REALLY hungry. After we ate, we went back and took quick naps. Then it was some shopping and time to visit Karen & Paul.
More to add later…… (the next day didn’t go perfect either!!!)
