RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Travelers going through Ramstein Air Base will soon be able to kick back in a new, VIP- style lounge planned for the United Service Organizations Center this summer.
TriWest Healthcare Alliance has donated $350,000 to expand the center at the base passenger terminal so it can better serve the influx of traveling troops in and out of the military hub.
The new center will be three times larger, include a 25-seat movie theater, cappuccino bar, a playroom for children and a wireless Internet “hot spot” for Web surfers with laptops.
Weary travelers will be able to relax on leather sofas and chairs or take a nap on a row of recliners with a window view of the flight line.
“It’s going to give you the feel as if you’re in a nice hotel lobby,” said Walt Murren, director of the Kaiserslautern USO.
Or a VIP lounge.
It will have many of the amenities of a first-class lounge found at any commercial airport — minus the full-beverage bar.
The bigger and better USO digs will go to good use, too.
Ramstein will become the sole military transportation hub for Europe once Rhein- Main Air Base closes in October, boosting the number of servicemembers who use the popular center and making it the busiest on the continent.
About 32,000 servicemembers a year currently use the USO center in Ramstein, but that number is expected to skyrocket to 330,000.
The donation, the largest the center has ever received, will also help the USO add staff members to the terminal center, expand operating hours and build a welcome kiosk at the baggage claim area.
Ed Edmonds, who manages the center, said the terminal needs more room to take care of the additional passengers. Edmonds, a retired Army sergeant, is one of five paid staff members who work at the center, which provides free beverages, Internet and area information to travelers.
“At times, this place is packed,” he said. “You’ve got people in this room; bags everywhere.”
TriWest Healthcare Alliance, based in Phoenix, has partnered with other USO centers in the past and provides health care to U.S. military members and their families in the 21-state Tricare West Region.
“This center will provide America’s dedicated servicemembers with a warm welcome, a comfortable place to rest, relax and contact family members, and receive the assistance they need as they await transport to their next destination,” David J. McIntyre Jr., TriWest president and chief executive officer, said in a press release.
The center expansion project is scheduled to be finished in early June, Murren said.
