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"Two New Mexico parents won\u2019t need passports to see their daughter graduate from Army basic training in South Carolina after all.Bernadette and Mel Rael said their daughter\u2019s drill sergeant at Fort Jackson told them they needed passports to come on the base because New Mexico driver\u2019s licenses aren\u2019t REAL ID-compliant.\u201CHe got on the phone and simply said that he can\u2019t go into details, but added if we don\u2019t have passports and are planning to see our daughter graduate from basic training, to not plan on coming,\u201D said Bernadette Rael.On Monday, the Raels drove all the way to Denver to get to a passport office. It was the closest location that would expedite their passport applications before the ceremony.After the story aired, Fort Jackson began looking into the situation.Base officials told Action 7 News on Tuesday that bases can make exceptions to REAL ID for graduations and family days and that passports aren't necessary.Action 7 News investigated and found that information to be true.According to the family, base officials apologized to them. Officials say it's very likely the family was given incorrect information from the drill sergeant.Families don't need to buy passports to attend a graduation, base officials reiterated.The graduation ceremony is on Feb. 11.Year after year, state leaders have failed to make citizen driver's licenses REAL ID compliant. The only thing that stands in the way of the state being compliant is legislators deciding whether or not to continue giving undocumented immigrants driver's licenses.Last year, when the state\u2019s REAL ID extension was denied, the clock began ticking as to when the Department of Homeland Security was going to stop accepting state licenses at federal facilities and airports.Homeland Security says residents' licenses will be OK at airports for the next few years, but the Department of Defense sent out a notice recently to all of its military bases mandating that all state licenses that don\u2019t meet REAL ID compliance not be accepted when someone is trying to enter."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.koat.com/article/base-says-parents-can-come-to-army-graduation-after-all/5069546>