HAVE YOU READ YOUR KA TODAY?
April 21, 2017
Volume 41, number 16
Never off duty: Ramstein Airmen extinguish fire Airman 1st Class Savannah L. Waters 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs On his way to the Kaiserslautern Military Com munity Center from church on Easter Sunday, Master Sgt. Skipper Valentin Cruzado, 86th Civil Engineer Squadron fire emergency services assistant chief of training, and his fam ily were in their car waiting for the light to turn green at an intersection. Tapping on the wheel of the car, Valentin Cruzado glanced to the left and was alarmed by the sight of black smoke billowing off the top of the Ramstein Air Base Burger King rooftop. As plans for a peaceful Sunday quickly dissipated, Valentin Cruzado jumped into action. As soon as the light turned green, Valentin Cruzado See FIRE, Page 2
Photo by Airmen 1st Class D. Blake Browning
86th Civil Engineer Group Airmen douse a fire at bldg. 1135, April 16 on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. According to base officials, the fire was contained and there was one minor injury of a firefighter. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
The beaten path: An Airman’s 381-mile walk for refuge By Staff Sgt. Nesha Humes 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs As a child, worrying about where or when you’re going to eat your next meal shouldn’t be a thought, yet for one Ramstein Airman, it was only one of her countless fears. Staff Sgt. Martha Otto is one of millions of Sudanese refugees who fled their
homes due to unrest caused by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA made news for and still targets civilians to draft child soldiers while raping, killing, and looting villages. From her life before know ing about LRA, Otto has faint memories of playing with her friends and having dinner with her family. Then the war hit in 1994. Sitting for this interview, Otto, then training man
ager for the 86th Logistics Readiness Squadron, has moved for her next assign ment at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Her overall recollec tion of dangerous events she encountered and their accu rate timeline are sometimes hazy, as might be expected when, as a child, war erases all sense of time. Nevertheless, she shared her journey. See REFUGE, Page 3
Photo illustration by Staff Sgt. Nesha Humes
Staff Sgt. Martha Otto, 86th Logistics Readiness Squadron training manager, fled her South-Sudanese home at the age of seven in search of safety from Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army and spent most of her childhood in a refugee camp. Today, she is passionate about sharing her distinctive journey to help others.
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Tip of the Week:
Airmen, Soldiers secure cyber domain, Page 6
435 SFS ‘SOC’ it to deploying USAFE Airmen, Page 9
Experience the Palatinate underground, Pages 14 & 15