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Three children from the St. Nikolaus Kinderheim, an orphanage in Landstuhl, got a taste of Ramstein and its facilities during a tour of the base Feb. 23.
“We’ve been organizing support for the orphanage for more than seven years now and never had the opportunity to show the children the things our base does,” said Pai-Maria Sakuda, 86th Communications Squadron telephone operator and coordinator for the tour. “We saw this as a great way to show them our mission and give them a little insight to what we do every day.”
The children, aged 11, got to see a C-130J, the air traffic control tower and the military working dog kennels.
The start of the tour began with a full tour of the in- and outside of a
C-130J from 1st Lt. Ryan Vanderneck, 37th Airlift Squadron C-130J pilot,
who is fluent in German, and Airman 1st Class John Temmen, 37th AS loadmaster.
“They see the planes flying around all the time. They have to be curious about it,” Temmen said. “We wanted to be able to shed some light on that curiosity.”
Vanderneck took the children on a 360-degree look of the aircraft and then took them inside to check out the inner workings, offering them the chance to try on one of the 25-pound parachutes.
“The whole point here is to build a connection with the children at the very least,” Vanderneck said. “We’ve been here for 60 years. Just a chance to interact with them and have them share their story with their friends is great. They don’t get many chances to see our base, so now instead of a noise complaint, they might look up and say, ‘That might be the one I was in.’”
The tour continued to the air traffic control tower where the children received a bird’s-eye view at the flightline below.
“We wanted to give them a little taste of everything,” said Lt. Col. Brad Barnhart, 86th Communications Squadron commander. “From the ground up.”
The next stop for the children was their favorite, the military working dog kennels where they received a live demonstration from the trainers of the capabilities the dogs add to security forces units.
Their last stop was at the bowling center where they enjoyed an American-style dinner of hamburgers and french fries.
The children all echoed their enjoyment of the tour and said they were impressed with the hosts at each of the sites visited.
“(Sakuda) put together a great tour that was thoroughly enjoyed by the children,” Barnhart said. “The successful visit reflects the continually strengthening relationship between military and local communities.”
