Aviano’s new staging area for airborne is ready for soldiers

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About 300 paratroops will be able to rest on these specially designed wooden benches in the Personnel Alert Holding Area unveiled Monday at Aviano Air Base, Italy.


Aviano’s new staging area for airborne is ready for soldiers
By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, February 27, 2008

AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — The three C-17 Globemasters sitting on the south ramp Monday were there just by coincidence.

In the absence of hundreds of Army airborne soldiers, the large military transport planes helped serve as a reminder of why a few dozen people were gathered to celebrate the opening of the Personnel Alert Holding Area.

“It’s a departure lounge for the airborne people,” said Martin Fano, summing up the purpose of the $10 million facility on the flight line that’s one of the largest buildings on base. “And for us, a lot of other things will be going on here.”

Fano is operations officer for the U.S. Army Garrison-Vicenza’s Arrival/Departure Airfield Control Group. He’s the point man when Vicenza’s airborne soldiers come to Aviano to train or launch missions.

Most of those soldiers are in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team and currently deployed to Afghanistan.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52856