My son lost his leave orders and is at SFO enroute to Osaka.

[Longhorn]

He's a Marine returning to Osaka from Austin after a month's leave. He has no passport but has his military ID. Will he get back okay? They let him on the United flight leaving Austin and said he was checked through to Osaka but he has to get into the international terminal at SFO.

He can't be the first military personnel to lose his papers!

[haele]

1. I didn't require a passport to travel internationally on leave

I also didn't travel commercial - I traveled "Space Available" on a MAC flight.
True, this was a decade ago, but I just had to show my military I.D. and sometimes my leave or TDY orders when I was trying to get onto a flight at a major MAC terminal like Dover or Edwards. Flying MAC through LAX, I didn't have to show my leave papers coming in from oversees, and only needed to show my I.D. to fly on to Travis.

Is he on a military flight or commercial?

When he's on orders, his I.D. doubles as a passport. Or has in the past

If he's coming in commercial and runs into trouble switching planes at SFO, he might want to check with SFO and see if they have some sort of military assistance desk. They might be able to pull up a copy of his authorization/leave order on DTS (Defense Travel Service) to verify that he is on orders.

I'm looking through the JFTR (Joint Uniform Travel Requirements) right now to see what he might run into; if he already has his tickets and doesn't have to leave the security area of SFO, he might be okay.

Here's the link if anyone else can find something before I can. Most of it deals with costs, but somewhere in here, there's the passport/orders regulations.

http://dodtravelregs.hqda.pentagon.mil/propub/template.htm?view=main

Haele

[Longhorn]

3. Thanks for the info!

He was able to get into the terminal at SFO. He was going to call me before he boarded and never did. I was really worried that he missed his flight -- he partied last night and was pretty wiped out this morning. He was going to lay down on the floor and take a nap -- he's 6'4" and couldn't get comfortable in a chair :) -- and I was afraid he didn't wake up when they called his flight. However, the plane left about six minutes early, according to United's site, so I assume they wouldn't have left early if everyone wasn't aboard. It left at 12:16 p.m. PDT so I think he would have called by now if he had missed it. He gets into Osaka at about 2 a.m. CDT.

Only seven more months to go! :hi:

[Qanisqineq]

2. Yeah, you don't need a passport with a military ID

We're in Korea and my husband can go to Japan and Korea without any passport or papers. We had planned a trip to China and there he does need a passport.

[Longhorn]

4. Thanks! He was afraid he wouldn't be able to get into the country.

I asked him if he thought he was going to be Tom Hanks in The Terminal. ;) I figured that once he got to Japan, they could verify his orders somehow. But I won't worry about it tonight and wait for his call in the morning. I know Japan and Korea and teeming with GIs so I figured this has probably come up before. :hi:

[Longhorn]

5. Y'all were right! He was asked for his orders but was admitted anyway

with his military ID. Thanks for your help! :hi: