STUTTGART, Germany — There wasn’t much of a home rental business this time last year in the small Hungarian city of Papa, but in recent months that’s started to change.
"For rent" signs are popping up around town and new housing developments are under construction, U.S. Air Force Col. John Zazworsky said.
Meanwhile, teachers at the local schools are busy brushing up on their English in preparation for an influx of students from the U.S. and 11 other nations. For U.S. military families preparing for the move to Hungary in support of NATO’s new Strategic Airlift Capability partnership, they’ll be something like settlers venturing into the unknown.
"The people coming in have that pioneer spirit," said Zazworsky, the commander of NATO’S new heavy airlift wing operating at Papa Air Base. "It’s a relatively small city that’s becoming an international city."
The NATO mission in Hungary commenced Monday when the first members of a multi-nation heavy airlift wing touched down in the city of Papa, where 40 U.S. Air Force personnel will eventually be based by early 2009.
The partnership, which involves 12 countries, will operate three jointly owned C-17 Globemasters that will help support heavy-transport missions such as rotating supplies and troops in and out of Afghanistan. The project in Papa is a 30-year pledge that is pegged to the life cycle of the C-17.
"It’s a pretty serious commitment," said Zazworsky, who previously served as vice commander of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.
While the heavy wing will be working in the weeks and months ahead on getting its members trained and prepared to fly, the 12-member advance team is on the ground and focused on more domestic matters: Where are the best places for families to buy groceries? Where are the best places to rent homes? What about the schools?
Such considerations are of primary importance when starting something from the ground up, Zazworsky said.
Indeed, things will be different for military families accustomed to places such as Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where an elaborate infrastructure of chain restaurants, shops and services virtually replicates life in the United States.
In Papa, the NATO contingent will be blended into a rural community of roughly 35,000 where the schools won’t be administered by Department of Defense Dependents Schools officials. They’ll be locally run.
For students, that means classes conducted half in English and half in Hungarian. The Americans students will be mixed together with their counterparts from various NATO nations as well as local children.
Tunde Hardi, director of Tarczy Lajos Primary, said her school will welcome the first international students next month when a group of Swedish youngsters arrive. For the past year, the school has worked to develop the bilingual program to accommodate about 85 students at the primary school.
"It is a great challenge to our teachers. They have to teach different subjects in English, for example music, art, PE (physical education), history, science," she said. "Our colleagues are also taking part in [additional training] to deepen their knowledge in methodology, to get acquainted with the education system of the nations involved in the SAC program, to learn how to handle a multicultural community."
The school, which serves 644 students in grades one through eight, also employs three American teachers. The bilingual program at the high school level starts next school year, she said.
The Hungarian students are looking forward to meeting the newcomers, Hardi said.
"They enjoy learning English, the lessons with the native speakers and they are looking forward to being part of a multicultural community," said Hardi, whose school anticipates about 90 students from the NATO group.
For officials in Hungary, the arrival of airlift wing is something of an economic boon. An estimated 300 to 500 jobs will be created in the area as a result of the NATO base. Officials also have been improving the local infrastructure. Papa is renovating schools in anticipation of the new international clientele drawn from the U.S., Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and two non-NATO countries—Sweden and Finland.
The housing situation, meanwhile, has started to improve as more homes have been renovated and constructed to accommodate the families, said Zazworsky. It’s still too early, he said, to determine how many dependents will be coming.
Twelve people from four countries are on the ground at Papa Air Base. By the end of the month, another 35 will arrive and by early 2009 the wing will be at a full force of roughly 150. Some 35 NATO-hired civilians also will be stationed at Papa to provide administrative support.
"By the time the first aircraft comes in the spring we’ll be able to fly missions," Zazworsky said.
In most cases, tours to Hungary will be three to four years to establish "experience and continuity," he said.
Whether the base could eventually evolve in something larger — perhaps a cargo hub — is something for others to decide, Zazworsky said.
"I want to create a unit that is flexible, adaptable and expandable. I think we have the nucleus of a much larger concept and I want them prepared for whatever the future may hold," he said. "As a professional airlifter I see a lot of potential."
