I was curious how they do this?  Is it one of the things that you do before deployment?  Do they just not worry about it?  What is the procedure or requirement?

What is the turnaround time for DoD personnel's passports?

no

Nope they don't. You are authorized to travel to where you are being depolyed, but if you try to leave the country you went to, you need your own passport. In Europe I have heard your military id is good enough, but in the asia countries it was not. With the exception of leaving to go back home.

Nope.
Your ID is your passport for deployments.

Actually you don't need one to go back and forth either.
I went back and forth to Japan several times with only my ID card. Never had a passport.

Quoted: Nope. Your ID is your passport for deployments. Actually you don't need one to go back and forth either. I went back and forth to Japan several times with only my ID card. Never had a passport.

Correct on all accounts. In Denmark we could fly out to other countries for the weekend if there was room. Never had a passport.

Interesting.

Do most/many DoD personnel get a passport to have all the bases covered?

I don't know about DoD, but for overseas military deployment I do not believe you need or get a passport.

However, once overseas, you may need one depending on your job.  For example when I was stationed in Panama, I did not have any sort of passport initially.  But because we supported comm gear in Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador, I had to get a govt passport.  For Costa Rica and El Sal, we flew commercial so we had to have one for there.  For Honduras, even though we flew from Howard AFB to Palmerola AB, we still needed a Visa and had our passport stamped in and out.  In my shop, only a few people got govt passports and even fewer were lucky enough to get stamped in all three supported countries.

LL

We have to have them when we go to South America.

In Germany in the 80’s we did not need a passport. If you were on leave and traveled to another NATO country, your ID, leave papers and  USEUCOM Form 80  Identity Document For Crossing Borders,  were all that was required. I did get a passport anyway. Form 80 was given out by your units S2.

Quoted: Interesting. Do most/many DoD personnel get a passport to have all the bases covered?

No one I knew did.
I think a a couple of guys had dependants that ended up getting them, but none of the active duty guys I knew had a passport.

Quoted: Interesting. Do most/many DoD personnel get a passport to have all the bases covered?

I spent time on a MEU and all Staff and O's were made to get a passport.  A gov't passport on top of that.  Getting one of those means you give up your civilian one.  I refused and kept my passport.  No reason for this at all but some Col and SgtMaj wanted a bullet on their fitreps.

Everyone in my unit had to get an official U.S. Govt. passport prior to our deployment to here in Fujairah, U.A.E.  Then once we got here we had to apply for work visas.  They took all our passports from us once we got here too.

Depends on the SOFA with that particular country.

Quoted: Depends on the SOFA with that particular country.

And they are nice to have for everyother country.

Everyone in my squadron has to have one, although I have yet to have anyone look at it.

This includes plenty of flights to Europe, the Middle East and SE Asia.  Usually a set of flight orders does the trick, but the passport is nice to fall back on.

Quoted: Quoted: Interesting. Do most/many DoD personnel get a passport to have all the bases covered? I spent time on a MEU and all Staff and O's were made to get a passport.  A gov't passport on top of that.  Getting one of those means you give up your civilian one.  I refused and kept my passport.  No reason for this at all but some Col and SgtMaj wanted a bullet on their fitreps.

This is incorrect.  Whoever told you that was full of it.  I have held both simultaneously.  How else are you supposed to be able to travel outside of the US for pleasure/off duty?

The reason most of the MEU staff and Officers get govt passports was so they could travel to other countries for advanced party and planning stuff.  A military ID is acceptable in some countries and for a deplyment, but not others.  It was pretty routine when I was on float two years ago.

Oddly enough, about six years ago, I went to Korea for vacation.  Had my civilian passport, but the Korean customs guy just wanted to see my military ID.  I tried to explain to him that I was not coming there for work/to be stationed there, but he just wanted to see my ID, not my passport.

Been deployed to Kuwait and other places and am here for a year in Korea...
I have never had a passport in my life.

When I come back to the States, I just show my military ID.

I had to apply for a Govt Official passport while I was with the 84th Eng in Hawaii, our battalion deployed all over the world.  Also EOD required Official passports because of EOD's mission to support the Secret Service for the Protection of POTUS and other VIP's.  You never knew if you could get snagged to go on an overseas VIP, one guy in my unit was snagged from an LA VIP to go to Australia.

When I was in you just used your orders/Mil ID.

When I worked for the USAF as a civilan I had a DOD Passport...

These days I believe that if your overseas travel is not a unit deployment, but TDY/TAD you are issued a DoD passport.

Personally, I would not travel on it due to force protection concerns.  I just paid the $$ for a standard US passport without and DoD affiliation on it.  $80 IIRC.

Quoted: These days I believe that if your overseas travel is not a unit deployment, but TDY/TAD you are issued a DoD passport. Personally, I would not travel on it due to force protection concerns.  I just paid the $$ for a standard US passport without and DoD affiliation on it.  $80 IIRC.

+1, it was always a good idea to have your regular passport, even if you were travelling on your mil-ID.  If a situation developed where you needed to blend in with the passengers better, the passport would go alot farther than the ID card in keeping you from being singled out for execution, or otherwise rough time.  Same at stops along the way or on leave overseas.  It you go into a hotel and show an ID card, then everyone and their brother knows you're a GI and that might not be good depending on the situation.  Using your passport at the hotel, lowers your risk to just being an American (which is high enough, you don't really need to make it higher).

If you were working out of the Embassy, usually you got a red, diplomatic passport.  Units that usually operated in countries that might not have a SOFA, or had to work out of the embassy for operational reasons, usually had these issued to them.  For example, in El Sal there was a 55 man limit to advisors placed by Congress to keep it from becoming "another Vietnam" (which is absurd since sending in the advisors was what was going to keep it from becomeing another Vietnam, but I digress) but the 55 man limit had nothing to do with the embassy staff.  So the military attache's office went from a handfull of guys to a couple hundred, who promptly worked advising the Salvadorians.  The 55 man advisors had just ID cards and deployed normally.  The embassy staff guys had red passports and were technically "embassy staff".  

If you need a passport, then the military will get you one, but otherwise they won't issue you one.  I'd advise any military member to get a regular passport though for force protection as well.

Ross

Quoted: Depends on the SOFA with that particular country.

I'm getting the impression that's what it is.
From the varying stories we've got here, that'd be my guess.

The French give you the third degree. When I came back to the U.S. from Iraq in '03 we stopped in France. The police gave us a hard time at every checkpoint. "No I don't have my passport" "No you can't see my orders." They also asked repeatedly where were our weapons. Talk about a a wasted day. The nicest person I met in France was a Brazilian girl who worked at the airport as security. Frenchies (parisians mostly) are teh suck!


sst7

Quoted: If you were working out of the Embassy, usually you got a red, diplomatic passport.   Ross

Red passports were not diplomatic passports.  They were official passports and the holders had no diplomatic status.  They mearly stated that "the bearer is abroad on an official assignment for the Government of the United States of America".

I believe diplomatic passports were black.