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After being home for a few weeks I left for Charleston AFB South Carolina just before Labor Day. I had spent about 3 weeks in Allentown after arriving back from Thailand and other than the week I had spent right after tech school almost two years before... This time I wasn't so focused on my High School days.. Spent an afternoon with Dave Mellner and went up to the Playboy Club in New Jersey with Jeff Kemmer.. but other than that just spent some relaxing time in Allentwon and re-learning what it was like to be a son in my mother's house..
This time though instead of my mother taking me down to Philadelphia I flew on an Eastern flight from the Allentown ABE airport to Washington DC.. then got on a Piedmont YS-11 puddle jumper to Charleston SC.. stopping in about 3 places along the way.. Once I got to Charleston I spent the night at a motel before heading over to the AFB and to the MAC terminal there for the flight to Germany..
I remember getting to the MAC terminal and it was very similar to the basic training experience I had two years eariler.. There was this Army Master Sargent who was in charge of making sure we all had regulation haircuts.. and no one was going to get on the plane unless we all had our hair within regulations.. as well as a pressed clean uniform and shoes shined.. The plane.. as usual. wasn't scheduled for so much a time.. but when it was ready to go.. It was a chartered Flying Tigers DC-8.. and I remember stopping in New York for refuling.. This I never understood since the jet was perfectly capable of the trans atlantic crossing without having to refuel in New York.. but we sat there on the ground for an hour till we got the clearance to take off and it was a long night flight to Germany.
Fortunatley I had a window seat and I remember looking out in the early morning sun and seeing something other than clouds or water.... I think it was the coastline of France and the landscape was very different than the United States.. Many small towns and villages with roads connecting them.. and mostly I remember the red tiled homes.. As we flew into Germany you could see the density of the towns.. but each one seperate... and finally.. I saw Frankfurt and the runway at Rhein Main.. the Gateway To Europe as it was called then.
I picked up my duffel bag after getting off the plane and felt totally lost.. My orders were for Ramstein AB which was about 100 miles to the south.. There was a bus for Ramstein that left once a day.. and of course it left about an hour before I arrived... Spent the night at the Hotel on base which was used for travelers in Germany.. Unlike Thailand .. which by any stetch of the imagination was very temporary..even though the US had been there for at least 15 years.. the facilites in Germany were much more permanent.. Things I noticed were American cars with these odd green licence plates.. USA on them...and on the surface Rhein Main looked like an AFB I would be on in New Jersey .. but beneath the surface.. and right outside my hotel window.. was definitely Germany.. The autobahn had these streaking cars driving on it. at least 80mph minimum speed.. but I was still pretty messed up due to the time change and since I never slept on the plane.. after getting something to eat I just fell asleep in my room...
The bus for Ramstein left about noon the next day.. took about three hours with a stop at Sembach AB till we got there.. I arrived at the TAQ (Transient Airman's Quarters) and called up the Supply Squadron orderly room. My sponsor was a SSGT Scissent.. but he and his wife were on leave that day.. so the orderly room clerk.. A1C Ochoa came down to pick me up and we went up to the Squadron offices till he could figure out what to do with me.. There wasn't any room in the barracks I quickly found out.. so after a few phone calls I was taken down to the city of Kaiserslautern to a hotel for the night.. I was told to enjoy myself there and I'd be picked up in the morning...
Joe Scissent and his wife Dotty were both Staff Sergents in supply.. Joe worked in the Inventory Section and Dottie in NORS Control. I already had been assigned to Inventory working for TSGT Al Beattie.. the NCOIC of the section.. Joe and Dotty picked me up at the hotel and brought me up to their apartment in a small town outside the base called Weilerbach.. I'd be staying there for a few days till a place in the barracks could be found for me.. but I wound up staying there for almost a month...
My job at Ramstein was in the Inventory Section.. we would go into the warehouses and count the items stored there.. various aircraft parts.. hardware.. tires.. desks.. all the things that are used to operate the base.. We would verify that what was on the inventory computer records was what was there in the warehouse.. and conduct research if there was a discrpency.. Did this for the three years I was assigned to Base Supply..
I had never been to Germany .. or to Europe before for that matter. Before leaving Pennsylvania I drove down to McGuire AFB just southeast of Philadelphia with my friend Jeff Kemmerer from high school. I dropped my car off at the Miliary Sealift Command facilities there to ship overseas. This was one of the advantages of being in 2 years.. Now one of the first things after about a week in Germany was going north to the port of Bremerhaven to pick it up. This was my first experience in the German train system (DB).. as well as travelling in Europe... I had taken two years of German in high school.. but I quickly found out that the immersion into German society was quite different than the one presented in my textbooks.. Fortunatley.. English was spoken commonly enough that I managed to buy a ticket to Frankfurt then on to Bremerhaven without too much difficulty..
When I got to the sealift facilty.. I showed a copy of my orders and the car was brought out of the storage lot.. Direclty it was taken to an inspection point for the German TUV (auto inspection)... Well the inspector didn't paticulary care for the glass packs on the car... said it was too loud.. so he gave it a preliminary inspection OK but I would have to change the mufflers when I got back to Ramstein with it. Then I was given the certificate which I needed to buy my gas cupons from the exchange gas station. There were two ways to buy fuel... One off the local German economy ..at about 1.20DM/Liter or in 1974 exchange rates.. about $3 gallon.. or from the AAFES exchange gas station... where you recieved a fixed amount of liters per month... 200 was my quota.. at about $0.15/Liter .. or $0.60 gallon..
(places I visited )
(Tracy)
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Here is the USAF information about Ramstein.. now (1997).. It's changed a lot since I was there in the mid 1970's.. but again.. so has Europe.. When I was there the Cold War was very real.. and Germany was on the front lines of it in Europe. Ramstein was one of the principal Air Force bases in Germany and it probably was a major target of the Soviet Union in case the Cold War ever became a shooting one. Today.. it's misison has changed considerably after we drew down our forces there in the early 1990's...
Ramstein Air Base is located approximately two miles west of Landstuhl, one-and-one-half miles east of the city of Ramstein, and seven-and one-half miles west of the city of Kaiserslautern. Ramstein AB is in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz and is part of the Kaiserslautern Military Community--the largest American community outside the United States.
Ramstein Air Force Base is the largest USAF installation out of North America and the home of the USAFE Headquarters. It is also the largest NATO base in Europe.
Ramstein Air Base is a great example of international collaboration- i.e. designed by French engineers, constructed by German contractors, and operated by the U.S. Air Force. Just as the base's beginning was colorful, so is the history associated with it. With the area under French postwar occupational control at the time, that history officially began in 1951 with the base's construction by as many as 10,000 laborers from Germany and other countries participating in its development under the provisions of a Franco-American reciprocal agreement.
The completion of construction by German firms in 1953 initially resulted in two separate installations--Ramstein to the north and Landstuhl Air Base to the south of Kisling Avenue. Although called an air base, the north side had and still has no hangars or runway. The runway, hangars, control tower, ramps, and other flight-related facilities were located on Landstuhl. (See Map page)
Since its opening, the northern part of the base historically has been the location of various higher echelon headquarters, family housing, dependents' schools, and certain support functions, while the southern area has always been the site of the aerodrome and its various flying units.
In the 1950s, name changes accompanied the growing pains of the new bases. On 1 December 1957, the two bases were consolidated into the largest NATO controlled air base on the continent. It was awkwardly called Ramstein-Landstuhl AB, but later, through common usage, by its present name, Ramstein.
In January 1953, the base was the home of the 86th Fighter Bomber Wing with its F-84F aircraft, and later all-weather F-86D "Sabre" jets, and in August 1954, the name of the wing was changed to reflect a new mission. It became the 86th Fighter Interceptor Wing.
The 86th Fighter Interceptor Wing would later be transferred to Zweibruecken Air Base, Germany, but they would return to Ramstein in January 1973 as the 86th Tactical Fighter Wing, The 26th TRW would be assigned in 1966 to Ramstein and later reassigned to Zweibrucken AFB in 1973.
In the early '50's, the Seventeenth Air Force controlled Air Force assets in central Europe, including bases in Germany. 17th Air Force headquarters moved from Libya to Ramstein on Nov. 15, 1959.
The 526th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was stationed at Ramstein between 1960 to 1970's. The first overseas deployment of the F-102A took place in June of 1958 when the 327th Fighter Interceptor Squadron moved to Thule, Greenland.
The first squadron in Europe to receive the F-102 was the 525th FIS based at Bitburg in West Germany, which received 25 aircraft in early 1959. Five other squadrons in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands eventually got Delta Daggers, including the 526th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Ramstein.
The 526th FIS was the last USAFE active-duty squadron to operate the F-102. The squadron transitioned to F-4E in 1970 and was redesignated 526th Tactical Fighter Squadron . By the end of June 1973, the number of active F-102s had been reduced to ten. (For more on the F-102 got to F-102 Page)
Seventeenth Air Force Headquarters moved to Sembach Air Base, Germany, on Nov. 10, 1972 to make room for United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) headquarters at Ramstein. By March 1973 , the USAFE Commander in Chief's flag was officially transferred to Ramstein from Wiesbaden AB.
The U.S. Air Force went from three Europe-based numbered air forces to two when 17th Air Force inactivated during a ceremony at Sembach Air Base July 31, 1996. It was officially inactivated 30 September 1996.
Air Force units in central Europe now fall under Third Air Force, which has its headquarters at Royal Air Force Station Mildenhall, England. As part of this numbered air force restructuring, 16th Air Force would retain control of operations south of the Alps.
With USAFE's arrival, Ramstein entered a period of expansion unsurpassed in the base's history, as it became the hub of the largest community of Americans outside the United States.
In June 1985, the 316th Air Division was activated, centralizing command authority at Ramstein. The 86th Tactical Fighter Wing became the division's flight operations arm, while the newly formed 377th Combat Support Wing, also activated in 1985, became responsible for the logistical and administrative support on base. The 316th Air Division was deactivated 1 May 1991, and the 86th Tactical Fighter Wing merged with the 377 Combat Support Wing to form the 86th Fighter Wing.
In July 1994 the last of the F-16 aircraft left Ramstein and the wing's C-130s moved in. The wing was redesignated the 86th Airlift Wing on 1 October 1994, with three flying squadrons. The 37th Airlift Squadron operates C-130 aircraft equipped with the Adverse Weather Aerial Delivery System and Air Defense System. The 75th Airlift Squadron operates C-9 Aeromedical Evacuation aircraft, while the 76th Airlift Squadron provides operational support and distinguished visitor airlift throughout the theater.
The present host unit at Ramstein Air Base has been the 86th Airlift Wing since its activation date of 1 October 1994. The 86th Airlift Wing Commander serves a dual role as Wing and Kaiserslautern Military Community commander.
