Welcome to the Ramstein pages of the ESG website.  I hope you find them both useful and interesting. The website and the Support Unit are here to assist you and your family, both before and during your tour in Germany. Therefore, if you do have any problems, or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the relevant section at the unit or the web administrator and we will do our best to help you.

Living in Germany

Ramstein is located in the Rheinland Pfalz region of Midwest Germany bordering on the French region of Lorraine.  The surrounding region is hilly and has the Palatinate Forest running through it.  The Ramstein area can be described as living in Germany and working in America.  It is a multinational community with some 55,000 American service personnel in the region, plus smaller numbers of nationals from the other NATO members.  The nearest big city is Kaiserslautern, approximately 10 Km away, and Frankfurt is a further hours drive away. The climatic conditions across Midwest Germany differ from those in the UK as summer is generally 5-10 degrees warmer and in winter temperatures can drop to -15 degrees with heavy snowfalls, although this generally does not affect transport.

Personnel considering a posting to Ramstein need to carefully consider the differences between living in dispersed community in a foreign land and the UK.  On the one hand, there is the opportunity to travel and experience different lifestyles and cultures, and interact with different nationalities at work and socially.  However, personnel need to be aware that opportunities for spouses to find employment are extremely limited and the few jobs that become available are not particularly well paid.  Personnel posted to CC Air HQ or the UKSU can expect to undertake at least 1 OOA deployment during their tour – NATO personnel often undertake more. Whilst a lot of local civilians can speak English, spouses left at home whilst their partner is at work or detached can often experience isolation. Most people find that car insurance and telephones are more expensive than in the UK.  There is BFBS TV available at Ramstein and personnel can arrange to install and pay for Sky TV.

Working in Germany

The UKJSU and CC-Air HQ facilities are all located on Ramstein Air Base.  Personnel and their spouses must be able to drive and need to have their own vehicle(s) whilst stationed at Ramstein.  Generally, public transport is highly efficient around the surrounding villages and towns where personnel are located; however, it is very limited around Ramstein Air Base.  Moreover, within the airbase itself workplaces and social facilities are spread out over considerable distances. Taxis can be expensive. 

For the Website Administrator call:   0049 (0) 6371 401401 or send an email to ramsteinwebadmin@googlemail.com