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***image1***There’s only one chance to make a good first impression, and the personnel who work at the Soldier and Family Reception Center at the Frankfurt International Airport know just how that’s done.
When newly-assigned Soldiers and their families arrive in Germany or Italy, they are greeted by friendly faces in military uniforms at their arrival gates inside the airports. These ambassadors of the U.S. Army in Europe are assigned to Human Resources Sustainment Center – Europe.
Better known as HRSC.europe, the center executes all reception, replacement, return to duty, rest and recuperation, and redeployment in the entire European theater of operations. With HRSC.europe personnel stationed at Frankfurt International Airport and Marco Polo International Airport in Venice, Italy, the HRSC.europe headquarters at Panzer Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, coordinates this complex yet vitally important mission.
As the gateway for all Soldiers and families arriving in Europe, HRSC.europe’s Soldier and Family Reception Center is responsible for welcoming these new arrivals into theater, in-processing them at the airports and transporting them from the airports to their respective communities within Europe.
In-processing includes assignment verification, Exceptional Family Member Program enrollment status verification and assistance with any customs or pet transportation issues if applicable. HRSC.europe personnel will even lend a hand with the luggage.
“Making sure the Soldiers and families get efficiently in-processed and making sure they get to their gaining communities safely are our most important concerns,” said Maj. Willie Chandler, chief of theater reception at the Soldier and Family Reception Center in Frankfurt.
Master Sgt. Dana Williams, Soldier and Family Reception Center NCOIC, said a bus contract is in place to ensure the Soldiers and families are transported to their new duty stations safely and without incident. The buses run twice a day on weekdays and once a day on weekends.
“It’s important to have someone there, a friendly face, to tell them where they need to go and what’s going to happen to them in the next day or so while they are in-processing, said Master Sergeant Chandler. “The people who greet them have to provide not only a good first impression but a good outlook about Europe.”
About 700 Soldiers and an additional 500 family members arrived at the Frankfurt International Airport in September on assignment orders to Europe. More than 10,000 arrived in the last year. Some of these Soldiers and their families have been stationed here before, but many have not.
“It’s good to have that person there to let you know, ‘hey, we are going to take care of your needs, and everything is going to be all right,’” said Master Sergeant Chandler.
