700th CONS sets records, breaks ground

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Adam Derentz
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  It was just after midnight on Oct. 1, and a team from the 700th Contracting Squadron, along with Col. Earl Matthews, 435th Air Base Wing commander, took up shovels and dug into the ground on Rhine Ordnance Barracks.

This midnight groundbreaking was a celebration of the passing of a record-breaking fiscal year and a symbol of the start of the new fiscal year.

Over the past fiscal year, the 700th CONS produced $332 million in contract actions, surpassing last year's numbers by more than $23 million. During September, typically a busy month for contracting, the 700th CONS completed 779 actions, obligating $98 million.

Fiscal year 2007 concluded Sept. 30 with 114 actions and $16.5 million awarded that day. That is 77 percent of all actions in U.S. Air Forces in Europe.

"The men and women of 700th CONS are in high spirits over this accomplishment and are proud to serve the Kaiserslautern Military Community," said Lt. Col. Julian Thrash, 700th CONS commander.

The midnight groundbreaking ceremony officially launched the construction of a new six-by-six meter pavilion outside the 700th CONS headquarters building.

The pavilion project is unique because the 435th Air Base Wing provided the financial support for the facility, which is located on Rhine Ordnance Barracks.

While the project is located on an Army post, the pavilion will directly benefit the Airmen of the 700th CONS, officials said. It is one of 108 construction projects awarded during the month of September.

"The number of infrastructure projects, and the quality of life projects will literally touch every man, woman and child in the KMC," said Gary Newton, 700th CONS flight chief.