Base operators keep USAFE connected to the world

Published May 9, 2008
By Capt. Erin Dorrance
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- It is perhaps the busiest office on Ramstein receiving 11,000 telephone calls daily. The office bustles with German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and other languages.

The Telephone Operations Facility, or as most people refer to as the "Base Operator," is located on Ramstein and services the entire U.S. Air Forces in Europe Command and provides service to Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine and U.S. State Department personnel in Europe and beyond. The facility is assigned to the 435th Communications Squadron.

"We have been the USAFE Consolidated Switchboard since early 2007," said Pia-Maria Sakuda, Telephone Operations Facility manager. "We work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to ensure we provide this important service."
When the consolidation of switchboards occurred, Ms. Sakuda's goal was to maintain a high level of service with an emphasis on customer care even though the additional switchboards increased the operator's workload.

"I don't think customers noticed a difference in service when the consolidation occurred," she said. "I believe we succeeded."

The switchboard is digital and accesses a database of more than 30,000 telephone numbers, she said. The office is run by a staff of 40 employees that work in shifts. Since the staff services all of Europe, the personnel speak a minimum of two languages.

Since the switchboard recently began providing services to Turkey, Ms. Sakuda asked for volunteers amongst the staff who wanted to attend an intensive six-month Turkish language course. Renate Sullivan, a shift supervisor who has worked at the switchboard for 23 years, volunteered and can now help Turkish customers along with a couple other operators.

"Our multilingual staff is able to assist callers who may not speak English or are more comfortable speaking their native language," said Ms. Sakuda.

No matter what language they speak, the staff remains busy. In March the switchboard received 281,000 phone calls, she said.

The most frequent calls are for information and assistance connecting or contacting emergency personnel. There are also quite a few calls for DSN assistance and morale calls from deployed personnel.

"One of the most rewarding parts of my job is connecting deployed Airmen and their families," said Rita Berberich, telephone operator.

Some phone calls are extraordinary.

The operators said some of the strangest calls they have received were, "How do I dial the dash?," "How much Pedialyte should I give my sick daughter?" and "What does a busy signal in Europe sound like?"

Regardless of what assistance customers need when they call the base operators, they are asked to be patient as the small staff stays very busy assisting callers from all over the globe, said Ms. Sakuda.