Facts on Dependent Student X-Mas Travel to USAREUR

Student dependents of Army personnel desiring space available travel to join their families overseas this Christmas may run into some delays, a USAREUR spokesman said last week. Joint service regulations permit dependents of military and DOD civilian personnel assigned to an overseas command who are undergraduate students at stateside educational institutions to be granted one space available, Category III, round trip per school year to join their parents overseas. The new status may create delays of up to several weeks in the availability of space available travel. The period during which space available travel for dependent student will be authorized this Christmas is from Dec. 10 to Feb. 1. Requests for such travel must be received at Headquarters USAREUR by Nov. 1. If no space available travel was used in the Fall, eligible students can use their entire round trip at Christmas or one leg at Christmas and the other leg in the Spring. If one leg was used in the Fall, the other leg can be used at Christmas in either direction, or saved until Spring. In any event, only one space available round trip can be made. Any additional travel must be the responsibility of the sponsor. Student dependents whose sponsors have been assigned overseas but who themselves are coming overseas for the first time to join the family, are authorized space-required movement (based on the PCS orders of their sponsor) to the overseas command during the Christmas period. Their return to the U.S. may be space available and would be considered one leg of their space available round trip-with the other leg to be granted at the end of the school year. The USAREUR spokesman reminded sponsors that a "no-fee" passport is required for dependent travel on government aircraft. If a student's sponsor has received a port call in conjunction with a PCS to CONUS within 30 days of departure for the overseas command, space available travel is not authorizes. This is also true for dependents of DOD civilian employees who are authorized home leave, with a port call within 30 days of the anticipated date of the student's departure for the overseas command. Space available travel is not authorized for students who are dependents of non-appropriated fund employees or DOD civilians without a transportation agreement. The USAREUR spokesman cautioned that space available travel during the holiday season is unpredictable. Student travelers who intend to use the Category III space available for travel overseas should have enough money to meet their expenses in the event their desired departure date cannot be met. Application for student travel during the Christmas period should be submitted on AE Form 325 (request for movement of dependents to USAREUR) through the sponsor's servicing unit personnel office. Applications should be submitted as early as possible at USAREUR Headquarters by the Nov. 1 deadline. Persons preparing paperwork for space available movement for dependent students should know the dependent's no-fee passport expiration date or the date the application for such passport was made, the student's complete address at the school, and previous dates on which the student traveled to or from the overseas command. Movement of dependent cadets of the United States Service academies is arranged at the academy.