News United States Air Force
 Air Force trailblazer returns to Ramstein after 54 yearsPublished June 1, 2016
                        
                        By 1st Lt. Clay Lancaster
                        
                        
                        86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
                **RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) --**
                It doesn’t happen often but occasionally Airmen get the opportunity to meet an Airman who, in 1947, was there when the Air Force first stood on its own -- those trailblazers who laid the first bricks of airpower on the long blue line.Retired Chief Master Sgt. Kenneth Andrews, who served at Ramstein Air Base from 1959 to 1962, started his 30-year Air Force career in 1947. He recently took advantage of the opportunity to come back to Europe to visit family and a familiar sight -- the air traffic control tower.“What an eye opener this has been to see what’s happened in the last 50 years,” Andrews said. “If someone were to blindfold me and set me down here I would not recognize this place as Ramstein; it’s changed that much.”The former air traffic controller had the opportunity to serve in several combat roles including in Vietnam. His stories were told as if they happened yesterday; the details still clear to him.“Vietnam was a different situation. We would have maybe 50 airplanes taxiing out for departure and coming in at one time,” Andrews said. “As one aircraft was taking off, the other was taxiing right behind it. Every morning it looked like the whole airport was headed out to the runway. I would go into meetings and tell them we were violating every rule in the book ... it was the only way to make the operation work and have that many airplanes out there.”Andrews and his grandson, Lt. Col. Michael Andrews, toured the tower and met other controllers, including Airman 1st Class Paige Goulette, who was testing for her Air Traffic Control 5-level upgrade training that day. She stuck close to the side of the retired chief, hanging on to every word of every story he told during his visit.“When we were briefed (Andrews) worked here from ‘59-‘62 we were all so excited up here in the tower. I think it’s extremely humbling to listen to someone talk about the area you work and the way things were more than 50 years ago,” Goulette said. “I think the moment he told us he was here when the Berlin Wall was being built really made us realize how different the world was back when he was controlling traffic.”The equipment Andrews was working with as a controller was far different than the equipment being used today. The stories he shared with Goulette and others showed just how far avionics and other advances in the air traffic controlling realm have come.“After hearing the equipment he worked with it really made us take a step back,” Goulette said. “I don't ever think we can understand how hard this job was when he worked as a controller, but we can try to imagine and we all have the utmost respect for him and all that he's done.”As Andrews departed the tower he shook the hands of every tower controller and thanked them for all they continue to do for the Air Force.“I would do it all over again tomorrow,” said Andrews, as he made his way toward the door.Ramstein AB 



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