Parents of Recruits

Our goal is to ensure that your son or daughter’s first military travel experience is a positive one. If your recruit experiences a travel disruption or delay or simply has a question, they should contact the Recruit Travel Assistance Center via Live Chat for the fastest response. If chat is unavailable, the recruit should call the toll-free number located in their instructions envelope.

Please do not reach out on your recruit’s behalf. We understand your worry, however information and instruction will only be provided to recruits or their group leaders. Increased call and chat volume from parents delays assistance to recruits.

Recruit Travel Assistance

The Recruit Travel Assistance Program provides travel support to military recruits traveling from Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) or their hometowns to their initial basic training centers.

Group Travel

If you are traveling in a group and encounter an issue, refer to your group leader for instruction. The group leader is the only authorized spokesperson for the group and it is their responsibility to report any travel issues on the group's behalf.

Independent Travel

If you are traveling alone to your basic training location and experience a disruption or delay in your travel plans, contact the Recruit Travel Assistance Center using Live Chat. Chat representatives can help with:

Flight cancellations
Missed connecting flights
Lost airline tickets or IDs
Meal vouchers, emergency lodging and transportation, or other unforeseen circumstances such as illness

Live Chat Now

If you receive a system warning that says your connection is not private, select “visit the site anyway” (Safari) or click on “Advanced Settings,” then “proceed to link” (Chrome, Edge, and Firefox). If you lose Wi-Fi signal during your chat session, resubmit your chat session and tell the agent you lost your connection.

If you do not have access to the internet, or if you need assistance outside of the chat hours of operation, call (877) 563-7746. Please do not attempt to call and chat at the same time, as this results in increased hold times and delays resolution.

If for some reason you cannot contact the Recruit Travel Assistance Center, call your Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) point of contact.

Missed Flight

If you missed your flight, ask the airline agent to re-book it on the next available same-day flight. If you are re-booked for the same day, Recruit Travel Assistance will obtain the new flight information and you may continue traveling. If another ticket is required or if there is an additional cost, contact your MEPS during normal business hours(usually 0800-1600). After 1600, contact the Recruit Travel Assistance Center to arrange for overnight lodging. Recruit Travel Assistance will contact the MEPS the following day to amend the ticket. The Recruit Travel Assistance Center cannot authorize charges for excess airfare costs.

Flight Cancellations

If your flight is cancelled, ask the airline agent to re-book you on the next available flight including any available standby flights. Group travelers are not required to stay within a group when being re-booked on the next available flight.

Flight Delays

If your delay is under two hours, proceed as usual. If the delay is longer than 2 hours, contact the Recruit Travel Assistance Center. If you are in jeopardy of missing your connecting flight, ask the airline ticket agent to re-book your connecting flight for a later same-day flight. If your flight delay has caused you to miss your bus transportation, contact Recruit Travel Assistance. When you arrive at your final destination, follow the reporting instructions you received from MEPS.

Lost Airline Tickets

If you lose your airline ticket, your ticketing agent should be able to print another copy upon verifying your identity.

Missed Bus, Ticket Refunds, & Other Issues

If you've missed your bus, need help with a ticket refund, or encounter another issues such as illness, contact the Recruit Travel Assistance Center for immediate support via Live Chat or the toll-free number listed in your reporting instructions envelope.

Meal vouchers, or meal checks, are provided to pay for your meals during travel and may be used at the originating airport, connecting flight airport, and/or final destination airport. Meal vouchers are provided depending on your travel times:

Breakfast: 0600 through 0730 (not to exceed $7.00)
Lunch: 1130 through 1300 (not to exceed $11.00)
Dinner: 1700 through 1830 (not to exceed $23.00)

If you need a meal and do not have a meal voucher, contact the Recruit Travel Assistance Center via Live Chat or the toll-free number in your instructions envelope.

Meal vouchers are accepted at the following airport restaurants:

Atlanta Hartsfield Airport: Burger King and TGI Fridays
San Antonio International Airport: Steak ‘n Shake and Charleys Philly Steaks
St. Louis International Airport USO Location
Will Rogers International Airport (Oklahoma City) - YMCA Military Welcome Center USO Location
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport USO Location
Chicago O’Hare International Airport USO Location

To use a meal voucher, ask the dining facility if they accept government meal vouchers and provide proper ID to the restaurant vendor, if requested. Once your purchase is complete, print, in ink, the name of the restaurant and the dollar value in numbers of the actual meal cost.

No change will be given if your meal is under the authorized amounted printed on the voucher. Do not allow anyone else to fill out your meal voucher. This is your responsibility. If you exceed the maximum amount, you are responsible for the difference.

Upon arrival at your final destination, if you have not used your meal voucher(s), use them prior to reporting to your respective military representative, military reception center desk, USO, etc., if time permits, as it may be your last opportunity for a meal until the following day.

United Service Organizations, or USOs, provide morale, welfare and recreation-type services to military personnel. You can often find USO locations [uso.org] in airports, and may use them if time permits.

Although, the USO is chartered by congress as a non-profit charitable corporation and is endorsed by the President of the United States and the Department of Defense, the USO is not part of the United States Government.

Unfortunately, DTMO does not support your program. However, you may contact the duty officer for the school you are reporting to and report your travel issue. If you are delayed, wait for your flight to depart and keep traveling until you reach your final destination. If you need transportation or lodging, please contact your gaining unit or installation point of contact, which is provided on your travel orders.