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Story and photos by
Senior Airman Kristof J. Rixmann
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
U.S. Airmen from the 1st Communications Maintenance Squadron completed construction on the first training tower within the United States Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa area of responsibility on Kapaun Air Station, May 12.
The construction of the 60 foot training tower results in significant savings in both time and money.
Instead of traveling back to the U.S. on TDYs to either Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, or Sheppard AFB, Texas, the 1st CMXS can now complete training requirements in their backyard.
Specifically, 22,500 dollars will be saved annually as a result of the training tower by making temporary duty assignments for training unnecessary.
The reach and impact of the 1st CMXS training tower goes far beyond the U.S. Air Force and the local Kaiserslautern Military Community, however.
Since most service members going on deployments are processed through Ramstein, anyone requiring their climb and rescue certification can participate in en-route training using the training tower before leaving Ramstein.
“Airmen won’t be the only ones working on this training tower,” said Staff Sgt. Chase McDaniel, 1st CMXS Cable Maintenance team chief. “If other branches require training, we now have the capability to provide that. This training tower gives us the opportunity to train anyone within USAFE-AFAFRICA.”
The 1st CMXS started training on the tower following a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by Lt. Col. Michael Williams, 1st CMXS commander, on May 17. Williams coined several Airmen and lauded them for their initiative and leadership throughout the entire project.
The project took three years from start to finish and cost 34,000 dollars. The 1st CMXS projects the tower to have paid itself off and have hundreds of Airmen trained in under two years.
