For more than 20 years, a U-S Air Force Base in New Mexico has been home to Germany’s largest military installation on foreign soil. The German Air Force Flight Training Center has meant millions of dollars to the U-S government, and to the community of Alamogordo.
But now the Germans are about to pack up and leave.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nti_fWzSMo&t=211s
In a hangar at Holloman Air Force Base, a German Tornado jet is powering up for the first training exercise of the day. The final preflight checks are done, the pilots climb aboard and the bomber is taxied to the runway for take off.
In the next hangar, Luftwaffe Master Sergeant Steffen Milner and his maintenance crew are getting the next Tornado ready to fly.
The German Air Force Flying Training Center was established at Holloman 20 years ago. The controlled airspace and sparsely populated desert is the perfect environment to train pilots in low level flying and bombing. Clear and warm conditions means they can train pilots 300 days out of the year.
“I love it, look at the weather the sun is shining. It is always warm. It is a mild winter here there is no snow where I come from it is always cloudy and you know it is not such a great weather.” Milner said.
After a final check with a flashlight, for leaks and loose parts, Milner said this Tornado jet is good to go. But when they do have mechanical problems. the wait for parts can leave the jets grounded for months.
‘It is very hard to keep the airplane usable the waits are very far and we don’t get so many containers from Germany and so many airplanes if we really need parts.” Milner said.
These days the Luftwaffe is changing its strategy, with Tornadoes playing a smaller and different role. In 2005 the Germans were training with 38 Tornado jets at Holloman, today there are only 14 on base. Training Center Commander Stephan Breidenbach said the shrinking fleet makes the mission hard to justify.
“Now the number of Tornadoes is so small basically to operate them efficiently we need to just reduce the base and consolidate the tornadoes at the 2 remaining air bases in Germany to have efficient logistics and also have the crews together.”
Over the past five years, Germany paid the U-S government 151.3 million dollars to train at Holloman.
But this year the German military announced the center will be closed down by 2019, when its current contract runs out.
Real estate Agent Lebron Little is pitching a “for lease” sign in the front yard of a new house on the market. He said it is the kind German families rent.
“The Germans love to rent around the golf course area, they are always wanting somewhere with a pool, they wanting some of the higher priced homes- they are wanting something very nice they do a lot of entertaining.”
Vacant houses have littered the streets of Alamogordo since the 2008 recession. Little said the Germans’ departure will result in a 15% loss for the rental market, and about 400 more vacant houses in town.
There are around 1,200 Germans in Alamogordo making it the largest community of German expatriates in the U.S. Alamogordo has the largest public German school outside Germany, along with German run charities, a church, and a German food section at Walmart.
And every year they throw an Oktoberfest that brings people to Alamogordo in their thousands.. with German beer, food and entertainment especially flown in from Germany.
That is where Milner met his American girlfriend. He said he enjoys the cultural exchange.
“Yeah that is what I love. The food, I love the burgers and I am eating a lot of it.”
Milner said he’s not ready to leave America.
“It is different , you feel more free, you can you can basically do whatever you want if you don’t harm someone and that is pretty cool in Germany it just doesn’t feel so free- you know” Milner said.
“They like to buy cars, motorcycles they like to have the American experience if you will, while they are here.”
New Mexico State Senator Bill Burt said. He said the German contract to fly came at crucial time in the 90’s when Holloman was being considered for closure.
“The loss of the Germans will be dramatic for Holloman air force base and for the community of Alamogordo. Just as much as we hate losing having the economic impact we are going to lose our friends.” Burt said.
Burt points to the millions in infrastructure the Germans are leaving behind; hangars and office buildings that he said could draw in another mission to fill the void the Germans will leave.
But Master Sergeant Milner said he won’t be taking off just yet. When the bases closes he said is going to resign from German military just so he can stay in America with his girlfriend. He’s applying to universities in California to study business administration, so he can get a visa.
“I went on vacation in San Diego for the 4th of July and that was it! I was in San Diego. The most beautiful city in the U.S.. I saw the fireworks. The party for the 4th of July and that just convinced me that the U.S. is actually the place- I want to stay at and settle basically.” Milner said.
Smaller German Air Force training operations continue in Ft Sheppard, TX, Goodyear, AZ and Pensacola FL.
