MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Snow days like last week’s don’t just mean sledding and hot cocoa for some children of service members at Quantico. Often, if the base is open, the day off also entails a trip to the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System ID Card Center for dependent ID cards or other services.
“Whenever school is out, we’re busy,” said Danette Krolczyk, who heads the DEERS center, noting that this could be during snow days or the summer months.
But, she said, those children and their parents will spend considerably more time in the waiting room than they would have if they’d made an appointment ahead of time rather than waiting for a day off of school.
“When people don’t have appointments and come in as a walk-in, they make themselves have a long wait,” she said, noting that visitors with appointments are usually served within 10 minutes of their appointment time, while walk-ins might wait between 10 minutes and two and a half or three hours, depending on how many walk-ins arrived before them.
This is because most of the office’s eight work stations are dedicated to keeping appointments on time, she said.
Other than snow days and summertime, Krolczyk said, Fridays tend to be the busiest days.
Users can make an appointment for any DEERS service except passport issuance on the Department of Defense Real Time Automated Personnel Identification System website, which can be accessed through a link on the DEERS webpage.
The RAPIDS site allows users to schedule appointments at any DEERS center. Each appointment is for one individual, so those who come for services as a family need to schedule multiple appointments.
Service members and their dependents can also schedule appointments by calling the office, but Krolczyk said most of the office’s computers don’t have internet access, so it may take time for the employee to reach the RAPIDS website.
For passport services, users need to contact the passport agent, whose phone number and email address can be found by downloading the passport instructions from the Quantico DEERS website.
Krolczyk said DEERS only issues passports for travel on DOD business.
She also noted that the Quantico DEERS website lists all the documentation required for each of the center’s services, so clients should check the list before coming in.
“There’s no need for anybody to come in here and be upset because the DOD has required them to have certain documentation,” she said.
— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com