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KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe told administrators this week that schools will have to drop the word “American” from their official names. Also, any schools named after a person will have to be called by a moniker more reflective of its location. That means Ramstein American High School will simply be known as Ramstein High School. And David Glasgow Farragut High School in Rota, Spain, will take on the shorter name of Rota High School. The school in southern Spain is named for the U.S. Navy’s first admiral. School administrators were notified of the changes in a...

by Staff Sgt. Ryan Hansen 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs 8/15/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- It may be surprising to hear that the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing has a Vietnam era Purple Heart recipient working at the wing. It is even more surprising to hear that the combat veteran is actually a C-130 Hercules deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. On the flight deck of aircraft 63-7865 is a plaque telling the story of one of the hardest working aircraft in the Air Force inventory. According to the certificate, on June 1, 1972, the aircraft was assigned to the 21st Tactical...

MANAMA, Bahrain - U.S. military medical personnel, either on standby or already aboard ships, will act as first responders in the assisted departure of American citizens from Lebanon. One U.S. Navy physician and two corpsmen from Expeditionary Medical Facility (EMF) Kuwait, are aboard the civilian cruise vessel Orient Queen as it ferries passengers to the safety of Lanarca, Cyprus, said Capt. Vernon Morgan, force surgeon at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain. The U.S. Air Force has also stationed one physician and two medics at the entry points where American citizens are arriving in Cyprus. A 23-member Air Force...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - Smiling broadly, journalist Jill Carroll arrived Saturday under U.S. military protection in Germany, the first stop on her return to the United States after 82 days in captivity in Iraq. 28-year-old U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, left, is welcomed by Base Commander, Col. Kurt Lohide after she landed at the U.S. Airbase in Ramstein, southwestern Germany, Saturday, April 1, 2006. Carroll was a hostage in Iraq for 82 days and was released last Thursday. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) Gone was the Islamic headscarf and dress robe she had worn as a hostage. Instead she was wearing jeans,...

RAMSTEIN, Germany — Saturday’s anti-war protest outside Ramstein Air Base was notable for what did not happen. Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq and the woman who protested last summer outside President Bush’s ranch, did not attend, even though weeks ago she was scheduled to participate in the event. Also, only about 30 protesters marched with crosses and rainbow peace flags from the town of Landstuhl to outside Ramstein Air Base. Protest organizers originally estimated as many as 500 participants.

RAMSTEIN, Germany — Cindy Sheehan says she will not be near Ramstein Air Base or participate in a protest march from Landstuhl to Ramstein on Saturday if she goes through with a planned trip to Europe. Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq and the woman who protested the war last summer outside President Bush’s ranch in Texas, said in an e-mail Wednesday to Stars and Stripes that “everything is up in the air at this point.” Sheehan is due to arrive in Frankfurt on Thursday. Despite uncertainty clouding Sheehan’s visit, protesters and counterprotesters still plan to gather...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (USAFENS) – Ramstein Airmen deployed to Iraq for five months to train Iraqis to fly and maintain C-130 aircraft; standing up the first Iraqi airlift squadron under the country’s new regime. A Ramstein pilot, navigator and enlisted maintainers deployed from August of 2005 through January to train their Iraqi counterparts to fly and maintain the Iraqi 23rd Squadron’s three C-130 Es on Ali Base, Iraq. “This was the world’s toughest training environment,” said Capt. Jeremy Smith, 37th Airlift Squadron navigator. “We were teaching Iraqis to fly in a hostile environment with a language and culture barrier.”...

10/25/2005 - ABOVE IRAQ (AFPN) -- Tuskegee Airman Col. Richard Toliver (left) chats with Maj. (Dr.) Vanessa Williams as their C-17 Globemaster III makes its final approach to Balad Air Base, Iraq. Five of the original Tuskegee Airmen -- the first African-American aviators of World War II -- are visiting the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad. The unit is a descendant of the "Red Tail Angels" of the Tuskegee Airmen's 332nd Fighter Group. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Andra Higgs)

KIGALI, Rwanda (AFPN) -- Up and down a dusty grass and dirt soccer field, children chased a well-worn semblance of a ball. The ball more closely resembled a plastic bag wrapped in twine. The players stopped only to wave hello to the U.S. Airmen entering the airfield of Kigali International Airport. The students are from Nonko Primary School of Kigali-Kanombe, Rwanda, and thanks to the Airmen, they now own 20 new soccer balls, nets for their goal posts, toys and school supplies. The Airmen, from the 86th Air Expeditionary Group, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, first got the idea to buy...

MILAN, June 25 -- For 19 American intelligence operatives assigned to apprehend a radical Islamic preacher in Milan two years ago, the mission was equal parts James Bond and taxpayer-financed Italian holiday, according to an Italian investigation of the man's disappearance. The Americans stayed at some of the finest hotels in Milan, sometimes for as long as six weeks, ringing up tabs of as much as $500 a day on Diners Club accounts created to match their recently forged identities, according to Italian court documents and other records. Then, after abducting their target and flying him to Cairo under the...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - First lady Laura Bush on Tuesday thanked U.S. soldiers for giving up their safety and the comforts of home to fight for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. -snip- Mrs. Bush, who also visited about 20 wounded soldiers at nearby Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, flew to Germany a day ahead of the president, who was attending meetings with NATO leaders in Brussels, Belgium. Ramstein Air Base has been heavily used in support of post-Sept. 11 U.S. military campaigns. -snip- The president also is scheduled to visit the 1st Armored Division in Wiesbaden, including some of the...

I talked to Walter Reed people today--they're swamped with supplies, including phone cards, "til June," one told me.   But they're desperate at Ramstein.  Per below. _____________________________________________________________________ From: Lori Noyes Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 12:28 AM Subject: Request for Help for our wounded troops at LRMC Dear CAP Friends:  I am writing is to tell you about a project the Ramstein Cadet Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is starting. The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) here in Germany got an influx of about 500 wounded troops from Iraq last week and more arrive almost daily. They arrive straight from...

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) - The U.S. military will keep a significant troop presence in Germany and even expand some bases, a senior U.S. commander said Thursday, despite the planned withdrawal of two Cold War-era divisions over the next decade. Air Force Gen. Charles F. Wald, deputy head of the U.S. military's European Command, also said major Air Force installations in Germany would be untouched by the troop realignment plans that President Bush announced Monday. Wald said a new, mobile brigade using lighter Stryker armored vehicles would be added, and major headquarters would also stay. ``The real issue is not the...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Air Force computer gurus are entrenched in a cyber war against themselves. Just as Air Force pilots fly mock dogfights during their exercises, so too do network security experts battle imaginary foes to train for the real world. This week, nine Air Force major commands and two Air Force agencies are engaged in Exercise Black Demon to root out insidious computer hackers who would seek to destroy the Air Force’s operations with but a few keystrokes. “Just like our pilots and air crews want to gain air and space superiority, we want to gain network...

Mon November 3, 2003 02:39 PM ET By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.S. military said Monday it was sticking to a policy forbidding television camera crews and photographers from filming coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq at a U.S. air base in southwestern Germany. Officials at Ramstein, a major U.S. air base which serves as a transfer point, had allowed media access in the past to honor guard ceremonies and transfers of American-flag covered coffins onto U.S.-bound military transport planes. But rules banning coverage were strictly enforced just before the Iraq war began. While U.S. officials say the...

Wald Says Changed World Drives EUCOM Transformation By Gerry J. GilmoreAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2003 – In 1987 more than 300,000 U.S. troops were stationed throughout Europe primarily to prevent a Soviet invasion, U.S. European Command's deputy commander noted here Aug. 5. Yet, today, just 106,000 American troops serve within EUCOM's area of operations, Air Force Gen. Chuck F. Wald pointed out during a Pentagon roundtable meeting with DoD military and civilian reporters. Although the Cold War became a relic of history with the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet...

July 12, 2003 U.S. Could Close All but One German Base By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 6:41 p.m. ET BERLIN (AP) -- Every U.S. military base in Germany except one supporting operations in Afghanistan and Iraq could be closed in a potential reorganization of American forces, the top U.S. commander in Europe said in an interview published Saturday. The bulk of about 115,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Europe are in Germany, prompting analysts to forecast that thousands will leave once Pentagon planners decide how to adapt structures left over from the Cold War to new tasks such as...

Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 9:47 AM Subject: FW: Soldier to Soldier A little background - The German Army is at Gates of all military installations in Germany providing entry control on a 24 X 7 basis to relieve US Forces that are in middle east. A different perspective on our German allies. Our governments may be at odds over Iraq Policy - but Military understands Military As usual I was running late. So, you can imagine my frustration level as approached the main gate of Ramstein Air Base only to find traffic backed up! Nearing the checkpoint I realized...

Sunday, 30 March 2003 As usual I was running late. So, you can imagine my frustration level as I approached the main gate of Ramstein Air Base only to find traffic backed up! Nearing the checkpoint I realized that not only was there a long line of cars, but traffic had come to a complete stop as a result of all, entrance gates being closed. Over the past 18-months, there have been many opportunities to practice our patience as we have had to "hurry up and wait" as a result of heightened security. While we realize the necessity, it's still...

Received this in an email today, folks. Thought many of you might appreciate it. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ If you have worn the uniform this one will get you!!! A little background - The German Army is at Gates of all military installations in Germany providing entry control on a 24 X 7 basis to relieve US Forces that are in middle east.. A different perspective on our German allies. Our governments may be at odds over Iraq Policy - but Military understands Military Here are our Allies! Sunday, 30 March 2003 As usual I was running late. So, you can imagine my...