Photos posted to social media on Sept. 6, 2024, appeared to show soldiers sleeping outside the U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach vehicle registration office in Germany. (Facebook)
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany – A U.S. Army post in Bavaria this week announced changes to its vehicle registration appointment process after photos surfaced online of soldiers camping out overnight to ensure a coveted walk-in slot.
The vehicle registration office at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach on Wednesday relaunched its online appointment scheduler and revamped hours as it transitions to a hybrid system of walk-ins and appointments.
The changes come as the U.S. military in Germany continues to grapple with a problem that has upended commutes to work and in some cases left military families without a legally operable vehicle.
The problem remains most acute in the Kaiserslautern Military Community, home to Ramstein Air Base and several Army posts. There were 1,624 people in the online queue at the Kapaun main vehicle registration on Thursday around noon, and most appointments for new registrations were booked through late December.
Ansbach has wrestled with its own problems.
The office switched to walk-in only in July after customers complained that the lead time to schedule an appointment was too great, garrison spokeswoman Gerlinde Hoyle said in a statement.
But that led to complaints about restrictions on the number of walk-ins available per day.
“The corrected model of opening hours will better serve the various types of service for our customers,” Hoyle said.
Under the hybrid system, time will be set aside to assist soldiers and their families going through permanent change of station moves, Hoyle added.
However, customer demand may remain a challenge.
Officials at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach in Bavaria have implemented reforms to the vehicle registration system after photos surfaced online showing soldiers sleeping outside overnight to wait for walk-in service. (U.S. Army)
The Ansbach office is authorized for only three staff members and there are no plans to assign soldiers to the office in the future, Hoyle said.
Ansbach in previous years has asked service members to help with vehicle registration temporarily.
The changes were announced days after the “U.S. Army W.T.F! moments” Facebook page posted photos of the soldiers on the ground in their sleeping bags. The post drew over 2,100 comments.
While the photos could not be independently verified, Hoyle said the service members were not encouraged to queue outside business hours.
Starting next week, the registration office will be open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for appointments only. Appointments can be made online.
The office will see in- and out-processing soldiers only from 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, and walk-ins from noon to 3 p.m.
Other bases in the region have had varied success in recent months by adding staff and making tweaks.
Officials at Ramstein last month opened a new substation to ease the burden at neighboring Kapaun, which handles vehicle matters for all services.
Some customers who have used the substation have said that it was considerably quicker than Kapaun, though the Ramstein location can’t handle some functions, such as issuing temporary plates and initial registrations.
The Army has also reopened services in the Kaiserslautern area at its post in Sembach.
Officials at Tower Barracks in Grafenwoehr, part of U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria, rolled out a proprietary online scheduling system July 1 that limited the number of appointments one person could make, thus freeing up precious calendar space, spokesman Andreas Kreuzer wrote in an emailed statement Thursday.
The base has cut their no-show rate from 60% to 5%.
Mark Heeter, a spokesman for the Army’s Installation Management Command - Europe, said the issues at vehicle registration offices across Germany were isolated and not the norm.
“While vehicle registration requirements are greater in the summer months due to the PCS season, most of our Army garrisons did not experience significant challenges with vehicle registration backlogs,” he wrote in a statement Wednesday.
Other services experienced similar issues in recent months, he said.
Stars and Stripes reporter Lydia Gordon contributed to this report.
