European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 19, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday september 19,1977 the stars and stripes Page 9 courier setup to take care of passports Byrlea Larkin staff writer Frankfurt is military person Nel department of defense civilians and their dependents serviced by the american consulate in Frankfurt will have to Start thinking ahead if they have passport needs. Walk in service for passports and birth registrations is being discontinued on oct. 31 at this the largest of the american consulate offices in Germany. Some 250,000 americans Are estimated to be in Hessen Rheinland Pfalz and Saarland the three areas under the jurisdiction of the Frank Furt office. Passport renewal amendments to pass ports and baby registration and passport service essentially everything except emergency service will be handled through the military passport courier offices said Consul Ernest b. Gutierrez chief of the citizenship and passport Sec Tion in Frankfurt. There Are 30 such Cou Rier offices in the Frankfurt consular area he added. After the War Gutierrez explained Dod and the state department reached an agreement under which military officers were authorized to take the oaths in applications for passports and birth registrations. The completed documents could then be forwarded to consulates for processing. The same agreement is still in effect Gutierrez said yet Seldom used. The system was not being sufficiently used. More Man hours were expended Here and by the military than  it has been common practice for people to take administrative leave from their jobs and drive to Frankfurt to take care of passport needs he said. We will spare the applicants the Trou ble and expense of coming Here. We can save Man hours Here which we can now dedicate to take care of emergencies and processing  Gutierrez said about 69 per cent of the some 1,250 passport applications handled by the consulate in Frankfurt each month have been walk ins. Much less time is involved in processing applications that come by military Cou Rier he said. The oaths have already been taken the forms Are completed the documents have been  when people apply in person at the consulate All this must be done while they Are there. Emergency service and cases involving lost or stolen passports will continue to be handled on a walk in basis Gutierrez said. In Case of an emergency such As death or illness of a relative in the states applicants who need immediate passport serv ice must present a letter from their personnel office unit commander or red Cross representative explaining the Emer gency conditions. Without this documentation they will be sent Back to the military courier office he said. How Long will it take for service through the military courier system time will vary depending on How offices handle the applications Gutierrez said. Currently some offices Send the forms to the Consul ate via Apo registered mail. Others make once or twice a week trips to Frankfurt to pick up and deliver the , for example your military passport courier office makes trips on wednesday to Frankfurt your passport should be re turned on a wednesday one week after it has gone to Frankfurt he said. Once the new policy is in effect and military pass port courier offices begin to get More Busi Ness Gutierrez expects that More will begin to Send someone to the consulate on a regular basis to pick up and deliver Docu ments. Americans in Germany who have no affiliation with the government As either civilian or military employees Are not affected by the policy change and they will still be granted walk in service Gutierrez said. Parachutes deploy from the rear of the c130 As it approaches the drop zone and then. It appears virtually on the ground As the chutes pull the m155 armoured recon vehicle from the rear of the plane riggers who attached the 17-ton vehicle to its special skid platform Are quickly on hand to Check the results results please rigging Crew ci30 recon vehicle drop Success Story and photos by de Hill staff writer Wal Stetten Germany is it was an excellent drop said sgt. . Larry e. Ervin. It took 160 Man hours to Rig that thing and we Are pleased with the  Ervin from Rockingham n.c., and his Crew of four had rigged an m551 armoured recon vehicle to be dropped from a c130 Hercules transport from a height of Only 10 feet. The method used is called the Low Altitude Parachute extraction system. The aircraft skims Over the ground at a height of about 10 feet. At the drop zone Para chutes deploy and pull the Load out the Back of the plane. Crazed monkeys kill two Kuwait a seven crazed monkeys escaped from their Cage in the Kuwait zoo and killed two children in a panicked holi Day crowd police reported. A zookeeper was seriously bitten before police shot and killed one of the monkeys and captured the others in a Long Chase. The drop went As planned. The 17-ton vehicle mounted on a platform designed to skid when hitting the ground Slid the length of the 300-Yard drop zone and came construction started on school at Giessen Giessen Germany construction is now in Progress for a new $3-miilion Dollar elementary school  school being built by the Wayss and Freytag construction co., is scheduled for completion in August of 1978, a spokesman said. It will include 26 classrooms special classes a cafeteria and an auditorium and will House More than 600 students in grades 1-6.the Giessen school is the fourth to enter the construction stage this year. The others Are in Wiesbaden Hanau and Fulda. No name has been selected for the new school but campaigns will Start soon to select a school Logotype and name. To a halt in a Cloud of dust. S. Sgt. Samuel Stafford from water town n.y., climbed into the Driver s compartment to Start the motor. I did t know what to expect if it would run or not he said. But the motor started on the first try. The loudest noise was the cheers from the rigging Crew. The Crew All from the 5th quartermaster det air drop at the Kaiserslautern army depot had the rigging off of the tracked vehicle less than 30 minutes after Thad landed. The air drop demonstration came during the Carbon Edge Field exercise now underway in this area. Argentina gets the nod Amsterdam up the 1978 chess olympics will be held in Argentina inter National chess federation president Max Ewe said saturday. Ewe said the argentinians plan to stage the olympics two weeks after next summer s world soccer championship which they also Are hosting