S&S - Airlift wing recruiters want ‘pioneers’ to come to Papa, Hungary

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Airlift wing recruiters want ‘pioneers’ to come to Papa, Hungary


By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes


Mideast edition, Sunday, April 12, 2009

John Vandiver / S&S
U.S. airmen are becoming a common sight on the streets of Papa, a small town of 32,000 in western Hungary. Personnel from 10 NATO countries and two non-NATO countries have joined forces to form the Strategic Airlift Capability project, a multinational consortium that involves a Heavy Airlift Wing of three C-17s. With about 150 personnel, plus family members and contractors, the international crowd is adding an economic jolt to the sleepy city 100 miles west of Budapest.

John Vandiver / Stripes
First Lt. Szabolcs Szaloky of Hungary gathers up English- language phonebooks at city hall in Papa. Though there are few English speakers in town, city leaders and local business owners have been responding to the need for more English services in an area, where German is the most common second language. English menus are now commonplace at local restaurants.

PAPA, Hungary — It didn’t take long for Master Sgt. Frank Prebble to make an impression on the people of Papa.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Commanders from the 12 countries involved in the new Strategic Airlift Capability project are looking to recruit people like Prebble who they’ve come to call pioneers."

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"After all, those troops are on three-year tours in a place where few speak English. Common services such as a commissary, base exchange, base housing or a base school are nonexistent, not to mention VAT cards, tax-free gas or any of the usual accoutrements of an overseas assignment.

There’s no place to hide in Papa or pretend you’re in America, which is an easy thing to do in places like Ramstein.

But what has made the transition to Papa a little easier for this group is that they aren’t in hostile territory. Indeed, many of the locals have embraced the multinational group, who are bringing an economic jolt to the area during difficult financial times."