Stefan-Andres-Gymnasium Schweich visited Spangdahlem Air Base on September 5, 2024.
Two students report on the exciting day, which was financially supported by Host Nation Council Spangdahlem e.V.:
On September 05, 2024, the English performance courses E3 and E4 of the MSS13 of the Stefan-Andres-Gymnasium Schweich had the opportunity to visit the Spangdahlem Air Base.
We were picked up from school by bus in the morning and drove to Spangdahlem with our teachers Ms. Lehnen and Ms. Schroden. We were met at the gate by Ms. Judith Mott, who is in charge of exchange opportunities at Spangdahlem Air Base.
After passport control by a member of the Security Forces, we took the bus to our destination. On the way, we were shown the hospital, the schools and the kindergarten that the base is equipped with.
Our first stop was the local police dog training site. They gave us a tour of their facility and gave us a demonstration of how the dogs work and live there. We were able to experience pretty much everything from an obstacle course to attack and defense strategies that were practiced with the dogs. It became clear that the dogs and their owners build a very close bond based solely on trust, which was really impressive. The sergeant in charge also told us something about his personal life, his career and his dog, who has unfortunately retired due to injury.
We then had the chance to take a look at the base’s hangar. We were lucky enough to be given a fighter jet to take a closer look at. In small groups, all our questions were answered and we were even allowed to take a look inside the cockpit. It was interesting to see how much technology there is in such a comparatively small aircraft and what it is capable of. For many of us, this was the first opportunity to take a closer look at a military aircraft.
After nearly loosing a portion of our group, we continued on to a small exhibition of aircraft that are no longer in service for various reasons. It was really exciting to get to know the individual life stories of the planes and learn about their different areas of operation. The fact that we are in a miniature America was partly evident from the police cars with different designs and license plates, but also from the various memorials, such as the one near the aircraft exhibition, which is intended to commemorate the tragic incident of September 11, 2001, but also to strengthen the German-American partnership.
Our last item on the program was the Taco Bell on the base. There we had the opportunity to experience and literally taste a piece of American culture. It also showed us that although we are on a military base, there are not only uniformed people there, but also civilians and children who simply live their normal lives.
Finally, we had the opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the lives of these civilians when we drove through the residential areas of the base. That was also a really interesting experience.
All in all, we can say that we really got a very nice and interesting impression of Spangdahlem and were able to take a lot away from it. We had the chance to get to know a different culture and observe a lifestyle that you can otherwise only experience on expensive flights. Even if the many uniformed people seemed a little strange at first and the increased security measures made many people feel uncomfortable, it has to be said that the people there were very courteous, open, friendly and also willing to answer our many questions. Thank you very much for that and we can highly recommend a visit to Spangdahlem Air Base to everyone.
Lea Oldenburg and Nurey Kismetli, MSS 13
