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Team Ramstein welcomed the new 86th Airlift Wing vice commander, Col. Stephen P. Lambert, June 1.
“First and foremost, I’m here to execute the vision and plan Gen. Dillon has in place,” the new vice commander said. “Our job today can be challenging because we as a nation are constantly learning how to best fight this war.”
On top of supporting the war effort, he has other big-ticket items at Ramstein.
“My second priority is to work to support our families,” Colonel Lambert said. “Strong Airmen make strong families — and we need to make sure they’re ready and have all the resources they need when we are called to go downrange.”
Colonel Lambert grew up in a family of five, with a British father and a Swiss mother. He lived in Switzerland until the age of 14, when his family moved to Arizona. In 1990, he graduated from the Air Force Academy and began his career as a special operations and tanker pilot.
Colonel Lambert draws strength from his upbringing and believes a strong family is the first step toward success.
“I have to pay tribute to the work ethic, moral understanding and world view my parents instilled in me growing up,” he said. “It has carried me through life.”
His father was a pilot in the British Overseas Airways Corporation and Colonel Lambert grew up knowing he wanted to fly. It wasn’t until he moved to the states that he found out exactly how he would come to live out his dream.
“When I was in high school, a senior from the Air Force Academy came to talk to us about joining the academy,” he said. “When I found out there was a disciplined way to be a pilot and serve your country at the same time, I knew that was what I wanted to do.”
The family legacy continues as Colonel Lambert’s oldest son will begin as a cadet this fall at the Air Force Academy. He is scheduled to graduate nearly 25 years after his father.
When asked if he had any advice for Airmen at Ramstein, the vice commander was able to sum it up in one word.
“It’s all about attitude,” he said. “When your heart is in it and you have a positive attitude, we can truly have ‘excellence in all we do.’”
Colonel Lambert is a senior pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours. Before his present assignment, he was an air power strategist for the chief of staff of the Air Force Strategic Studies Group at Headquarters U.S. Air Force in Washington, D.C.
Colonel Lambert relieved Col. Douglas E. Sevier, who was selected for reassignment as the deputy of the Strategic Synchronization Board at Camp Smith, Hawaii.
