Chief Master Sergeant Vladimir Tchekan

Chief Master Sergeant Vladimir Tchekan is the Senior Enlisted Leader for the United States Air Forces in Europe Band, Ramstein Air Base, Germany. He is responsible for the personnel, resources, training, readiness, and management of the 45-member squadron in support of USAFE-AFAFRICA initiatives, including building and preserving partnerships through official multi-national military and international community outreach events.

Chief Tchekan began his career playing trombone in the Air Force Band of the Golden West, Travis Air Force Base, California. After a tour with the Air Force Band of the Pacific in Japan, he took the opportunity to develop and apply his foreign language skills to the Air Force mission, beginning an impactful series of assignments with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). In this role, he has served in various locations supporting NATO partners to enhance inter-military cooperation, improve multilateral relationships, and mitigate threats from near-peer nations and non-state actors. He has also managed the Russian Analysis Division supporting the Combined Air Operation Center deconfliction hotline between the U.S. and Russia, and facilitated communications between the U.S. and Russia during the Prevention of Incidents On and Over the High Seas (INCSEA) discussion with the Russian Federation and Sochi Olympic Games. Additionally, he helped uphold the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), the Vienna Document Agreement (VD11), Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Finally, Chief Tchekan was part of a delegation that searched for remains of missing World War II pilots in Ukraine and Germany.

Chief Tchekan has deployed several times to the Defense Attaché Office U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and Moscow, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s mission in Moldova, and supported Syrian chemical weapons disposal Operations, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, and Operation INHERENT RESOLVE and RESOLUTE SUPPORT.

1. March 1999 – April 1999, Basic Training, Lackland AFB, Texas
2. May 1999 – August 2004, Band of the Golden West, Travis AFB, CA
3. August 2004 – October 2007, Band of the Pacific, Yokota AB, Japan
4. October 2007 – December 2008, Defense Language Institute, Monterey CA
5. December 2008 – July 2011, Linguist, Inspector CFE/VD11, DTRA-E, Darmstadt GE
6. July 2011 – March 2015, Superintendent, Theater Support Branch, Kleber Kaserne GE
7. April 2015 – January 2017, Superintendent, USAFE Band Ramstein AB, GE
8. January 2017 – October 2018, Language program manager DTRA-E, Kleber Kaserne, GE
9. October 2018 – May 2020, Superintendent, USAFE Band Ramstein AB, GE
10. May 2020 – Jul 2022, Operations Coordinator, Defense Attaché Office US Embassy Islamabad, Pakistan
11. Jul 2022 – present, USAFE Band Ramstein AB, GE