Airlifter of the Week: Not everyone wears the uniform

The 86th Airlift Wing recognized Holger Kehrer, 86th Civil Engineer Squadron, engineering flight programs specialist, as Airlifter of the Week for his outstanding contributions toward housing and development projects.

Kehrer started working with the U.S. Air Force on Ramstein in 2004 and has been involved with the development and funding approval of multiple projects.

“Normally [uniformed] Airmen are awarded, but without Mr. Kehrer’s work, not a building on Ramstein comes into existence,” said Lt. Col. Alexis Johnson, 86th Civil Engineer Squadron commander. “One example of his achievements is providing a clean site for construction of Ramstein’s Middle School. Kehrer developed a demolition project of 13 military family housing stairwells on base to provide the clean construction site.

“Mr. Kehrer is a key behind-the-scenes player,” said Johnson. “He’s the one that gets both teams around the table to start developing or repairing projects.”

Kehrer’s current project is the new housing office that will be relocated by the fitness center on Vogelweh.

“The task was to reduce the amount of traffic through housing,” Kehrer said. “[The housing office] will now be located near the commissary and bowling alley.”

The average time for the approval of these projects is three to five years. When construction is in progress it’s safe to assume it took a while to get to that point. This is why Kehrer says patience is important in his career field.

Kehrer also coordinated and wrote threshold packages for repair and replacement of water lines in seven housing units including the repair and replacement of more than 100 damaged roof tile units at Vogelweh.

“He has his hands in everything when it comes to development of a school or military housing. I could not do my job without him,” Johnson said.

When he isn’t improving the installation, the Bann, Germany native, coaches, plays soccer and raises parakeets.

Local nationals are the backbone of our installation. It is not only the uniformed members that make the mission happen.