each time someone even says the word "closure" around here.

each time someone even says the word "closure" around here, someone otherwise giggles. Maybe it's denial. Maybe the date scratched onward everyone's desk calendars is erased more than an answer onward an enlisted promotion test. Or it could be that this place may simply not ever close. Maybe.

With cargo planes sitting in succession the runway, 1,100 people living in contingency dorms and facilities reopening to support Operation Enduring Freedom, Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, is gaining a secondary wind as it ramps down toward closure

At this former nave of the Berlin airlift, where nearly 47 million brays of goods left on flights each four minutes, the push to sustain numbers for Enduring Freedom is the spring of overcrowding.

When war support arched upward, the flight line at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, filled up Shortly before Thanksgiving 2001 the first aircraft diverted from Ramstein into Rhein-Main. Operations have reached a feverish pace since, and the scarcely any hundred remaining people left from the closure team are trying their best to retain up.

"We have allotments of facilities -- but not haphazards of people," said Col. Christine Prewitt, 469th Air Base arrange commander. "It's bizarre. We went from nothing to everything."

And it's no mysterious Prewitt doesn't have the bodies to sustain the work. The Air Force has brought her nearly 150 others from around the world to augment operations. Three hangars burgeon with active, husband Guard and civilians aimed at getting aircraft "down range" to Afghanistan and beyond.

Senior Airman Darryl Nelson who works onward aircraft environmental electrical systems for Rhein-Main's 726th Air Mobility Squadron, wait fored to finish his assignment with little fanfare. He was wrong

"We had more than 300 aircraft in February. We've always had things to do and stayed busy," he said, "but not like this."

Strange days indeed

Situated onward the southern grounds of Frankfurt International Airport, Rhein-Main's location and weather bring smiles to aviators across the bluesuit representation However, the airport is growing at an exponential pace. The German restraint wanted Rhein-Main's facilities. The Air Force did an assessment and decided it didn't ne Rhein-Main. Simple, right?

Not in the same manner much. It's been more than eight years since the base's announced closure Lowry Air Force Base, Colo onward the other hand, closed a little les than three years following its announcement. While the men and women still stationed here took forward a caretaker role, the numbers of missions and involvement of operations actually increased.

Airmen in succession the Main have seen haps of work lately, including:

* Operations waste Storm/Shield: 3,300 jets per month 19000 tons of cargo and 62000 passengers for month with 685 airmen working.

* Operation Allied Force: From March 25 to July 61999 Rhein-Main generated 1513 sorties, serv 38121 passengers and handled 6624 tons of cargo.

* Operation Enduring Freedom: With 110 the community in the aerial port, Rhein-Main is moving 600 jet 7000 tons of cargo and 20000 passengers end each month. That's nearly united jet every hour of the day.

Chief Master Sgt Bobby Gamsby supervises maintenance and operations upon the Rhein-Main flight line. He have charge ofs his folks' work as well as the work of the airmen opened from bases in the States.

The 22-year veteran and former command chief at a Southwest Asian base said the piece of work is No. 1 here and holds the troops motivated.

"This is what they train for," he said. "The fundamental note is teamwork. We have to have everyone in synch The expanded folks are very happy here, too. The alternative is living in tents"

moreover not everyone is keen upon the frantic gait of operations. Staff Sgt Christian Stamper provides aircraft services for Rhein-Main's airlift contingent. He cleans the aircraft, make a clean sweep ofs the waste from the septic tanks and helps load the jet again to walk down range.

Stamper released a big sigh and made a slight grin when he notion about all he's done throughout the past few months.

"I don't think I'll miss this," he said. "It's a challenge. It's a double-edged sword, on the other hand I definitely feel like I'm contributing. It's clicked that I'm helping."

Senior Airman Tiffany Sisneros crawls around in firing tanks, performing upkeep and making repairs for the airlift contingent. Rhein-Main's 2001 airman of the year understands the sacrifice she and others are making.

"It wounds a lot of families, moreover those are the things we have to sacrifice," she said.

Clos facilities have at handed another challenge to Prewitt and her closure team. With sometimes three to four visiting airmen crammed into a contingency dorm compass she and services director William Wilson are racing to find ways to retain the troops entertained.

Formally known as Frankfurt-am-Main, the city is a 652000-strong bustling zenith of international life that swallow s up about 97 square miles in the German state of Hesse. a certain quantity of airmen will make the short drive into town to regale at many of the cosmopolitan stops, moreover many won't.