Better top off your tank before driving to Benelux

[unhappycamper]

Better top off your tank before driving to Benelux
By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, January 26, 2009

SCHINNEN, Netherlands — Four times a week, Macaira Pinto drives her four-cylinder car 20 miles from her home near Geilenkirchen Air Base, Germany, to the main U.S. Army post in Schinnen, Netherlands.

Until recently she was able to purchase gas at Schinnen, where she works as a bank teller, or at a local Esso station, said her husband, Air Force Capt. Anthony Pinto. Now she has to mind the fuel gauge more than ever, since she and her husband are no longer authorized to purchase discounted gas in Netherlands.

“It hasn’t really affected us,” Anthony Pinto said. “We just always plan to get gas in Germany. It hasn’t been an inconvenience. The Esso card is extremely convenient.”

Convenient, yes, but not Benelux bound, not yet at least.

With authorized personnel in Germany now using the fuel ration card system instead of coupons, USAG Schinnen has outlined new procedures for purchasing fuel in the Netherlands. Without official travel or leave orders, personnel will have to buy gas on the economy if they find themselves in a petro pinch.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60257