August 29, 2014
Kaiserslautern American
Page 1
HAVE YOU READ YOUR KA TODAY?
August 29, 2014
Volume 38, number 34
‘Million Gallon Man’ fuels mission by Senior Airman Timothy Moore 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
R
egardless of the vehicle you operate, it requires fuel. For military vehicles passing through Ramstein Air Base, that fuel is often supplied by Airmen from the 86th Logistics Readiness Squadron, and one Airman from the squadron went above and beyond to perform his mission. Airman 1st Class Ben Hunter, 86th LRS fuel distribution operator, supplied more than 1 million gallons of fuel in July. “It was a personal goal,” Hunter said. “I was challenged to do it, because it hasn’t happened at Ramstein in two years. It happens more often in deployed locations. Some Airmen have tried to go for it, but usually only get close. I wanted to do something significant, so I did.” The feat is something significant as Hunter outperformed 86th LRS’s top See FUEL, Page 3
Photo by Airman Larissa Greatwood
Airman 1st Class Ben Hunter, 86th Logistics Readiness Squadron fuel distribution operator, checks pressure gauges on a fuel truck Aug. 18 on Ramstein. Hunter reached his goal of pumping 1 million gallons of fuel in July. An Airman has not pumped that amount of fuel in a single month at Ramstein in two years.
Housing office works to reduce four-week backlog Town hall meeting scheduled for Wednesday
ments when people find a home as those appointments take priority over walk-ins. Housing personnel also recommend processing certain services through their organizational email boxes. These processes include outprocessing temporary lodging allowances, questions and answers about house hunting, overseas housing allowance stops, and FMO pickups. To date, emailing services reduced visits to the facility by 15 percent, Perez said.
One aspect housing employees have taken time to work on is the walk-in system. Due to a recent computer crash, they reverted to an analog sign-in without tracking and lack of focus on customer needs. The computer crash, combined with the increase in customers and lack of staff, caused fiveto six-hour wait times. “When the system was down, we didn’t know who was signing in and what they See HOUSING, Page 2
FEATURES
20 DAYS WHEN: Sept. 18 to 21 WHERE: Ramtein’s hangars 1 & 2 VISIT: www.ramsteinbazaar.org
Airmen light path to safer base, Page 3
SCHOOLS
until the bazaar!
FEATURES
The KMC Housing Office on Vogelweh recently took steps to reduce a four-week backlog for customers. The backlog, a combined Housing and Furnishings Management Office issue, began with 21 unfilled employee vacancies, an increase of approximately
3,000 customers over the past year, and computer problems. For service members coming to Ramstein, a two- or threeweek delay may exceed their 30-day allotment of temporary lodging allowance, which may cause them out-of-pocket expenses. However, the housing office will continue reimbursement as long as it’s through no fault of the member. The KMC office serves more than 47,000 Department
NEWS
by Senior Airman Armando A. Schwier-Morales 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
of Defense personnel. “The vacancies, increase of customers and the customer login system failure all caused a perfect storm,” said Debbie Perez, KMC Housing Office director. “This is my third summer here. I have never seen it this busy, but we are taking steps to make it better.” The housing office is taking steps to decrease wait time and visits to the facility. Perez said one of the best ways to curb service member wait time is to make appoint-
Veterans still serve one joke at a time, Page 7
Free child care available for newcomers, Page 14