NATO officers’ spouses enjoy princely visit

by Sigrid Sorge-Ploeger
NATO Officers


On Feb. 16, the German ladies hosted their monthly coffee morning for officers’ spouses from 22 NATO member nations at the Allied Air Headquarters on Ramstein.
 
Since it is Carnival season in Germany, all participants had been asked to show up in funny costumes. The response was a colorful crowd of cheerful witches, pirates, cats and highwaymen, among other costumes. A red carpet had been rolled out and everybody was curious about who the mysterious high-ranking, blue-blooded surprise guest would be.

The German ladies had invited Carnival Prince 2011 Michael Fischer of the Narrensaenger Kaiserslautern Carnival Association to join them for a fun morning. By coincidence, Mr. Fischer works in the NATO headquarters’ purchasing department, and his princely visit must have been the best kept secret at NATO headquarters ever.

The ladies gathered in one of the headquarters’ conference rooms and gave Mr. Fischer a standing ovation and a very warm welcome as he arrived to the tunes of a Carnival march.

“He charmed everyone with his great personality and his glamorous princely outfit,” said Lenka Svobodova, president of the NATO Officers’ Spouses Club, who also comes from the Czech Republic, “and since he is such an excellent singer, he coaxed his audience into singing along Carnival songs.”

When asked to join him in a polonaise, all the ladies lined up for a long colorful “snake march” inside and outside the building, which looked very funny and made everyone laugh.

Mrs. Svobodova and the senior German representative of the NATO Officers’ Spouses Club, Sigrid Sorge-Ploeger, were both rewarded with a Carnival medal by Mr. Fischer before he left to attend to his ordinary office work again.

“All the ladies enjoyed themselves very much,” Mrs. Svobodova said. “What a fun coffee morning it was (and) a great start into the Carnival season.”

Learn more about NATO’s multinational Headquarters Allied Air Command Ramstein at www.airn.nato.int.