diff --git a/cluster/aws/coreos/util.sh b/cluster/aws/coreos/util.sh
index f1f98227a74..9b8557dafea 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/coreos/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/coreos/util.sh
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 # A library of helper functions for CoreOS.
 
+SSH_USER=ubuntu
+
 function detect-minion-image (){
   if [[ -z "${KUBE_MINION_IMAGE-}" ]]; then
     KUBE_MINION_IMAGE=$(curl -s -L http://${COREOS_CHANNEL}.release.core-os.net/amd64-usr/current/coreos_production_ami_all.json | python -c "import json,sys;obj=json.load(sys.stdin);print filter(lambda t: t['name']=='${AWS_REGION}', obj['amis'])[0]['hvm']")
diff --git a/cluster/aws/options.md b/cluster/aws/options.md
index 20401494119..8e8e4f25840 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/options.md
+++ b/cluster/aws/options.md
@@ -70,4 +70,10 @@ will run on this storage if available, as typically the root disk is comparative
 
 If your machines don't have any ephemeral disks, this will default to the aufs driver on your root disk (with no LVM).
 
+**KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION**
+
+The distribution to use.  Valid options: `wheezy`, `ubuntu`, `coreos`.
+
+Defaults to wheezy (Debian Wheezy), which is the same as is used by default on GCE.
+
 [![Analytics](https://kubernetes-site.appspot.com/UA-36037335-10/GitHub/cluster/aws/options.md?pixel)]()
diff --git a/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh b/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh
index 67e73e0a7f3..b5e20128cf0 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+
+apt-get update
+apt-get install --yes curl
+
 # Retry a download until we get it.
 #
 # $1 is the URL to download
diff --git a/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh b/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh
index f24b8ed861e..b1a99dc9094 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh
@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@ docker_storage=${DOCKER_STORAGE:-aufs}
 if [[ ${#block_devices[@]} == 0 ]]; then
   echo "No ephemeral block devices found; will use aufs on root"
   docker_storage="aufs"
+
+  # Install aufs kernel module (for ubuntu)
+  apt-get install --yes linux-image-extra-$(uname -r)
+
+  # Install aufs tools (for debian)
+  apt-get install --yes aufs-tools
 else
   echo "Block devices: ${block_devices[@]}"
 
diff --git a/cluster/aws/ubuntu/common.sh b/cluster/aws/ubuntu/common.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cb8282a6fc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/aws/ubuntu/common.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+
+# A library of common helper functions for Ubuntus & Debians.
+
+function detect-minion-image() {
+  if [[ -z "${KUBE_MINION_IMAGE=-}" ]]; then
+    detect-image
+    KUBE_MINION_IMAGE=$AWS_IMAGE
+  fi
+}
+
+function generate-minion-user-data {
+  i=$1
+  # We pipe this to the ami as a startup script in the user-data field.  Requires a compatible ami
+  echo "#! /bin/bash"
+  echo "SALT_MASTER='${MASTER_INTERNAL_IP}'"
+  echo "MINION_IP_RANGE='${MINION_IP_RANGES[$i]}'"
+  echo "DOCKER_OPTS='${EXTRA_DOCKER_OPTS:-}'"
+  echo "readonly DOCKER_STORAGE='${DOCKER_STORAGE:-}'"
+  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh"
+  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh"
+  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/salt-minion.sh"
+}
+
+function check-minion() {
+  local minion_name=$1
+  local minion_ip=$2
+
+  local output=$(ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ${SSH_USER}@$minion_ip sudo docker ps -a 2>/dev/null)
+  if [[ -z "${output}" ]]; then
+    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ${SSH_USER}@$minion_ip sudo service docker start > $LOG 2>&1
+    echo "not working yet"
+  else
+    echo "working"
+  fi
+}
diff --git a/cluster/aws/ubuntu/util.sh b/cluster/aws/ubuntu/util.sh
index 33281c66f6a..7961caa0f1a 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/ubuntu/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/ubuntu/util.sh
@@ -17,35 +17,8 @@
 
 # A library of helper functions for Ubuntu.
 
-function detect-minion-image() {
-  if [[ -z "${KUBE_MINION_IMAGE=-}" ]]; then
-    detect-image
-    KUBE_MINION_IMAGE=$AWS_IMAGE
-  fi
-}
+source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/ubuntu/common.sh"
 
-function generate-minion-user-data {
-  i=$1
-  # We pipe this to the ami as a startup script in the user-data field.  Requires a compatible ami
-  echo "#! /bin/bash"
-  echo "SALT_MASTER='${MASTER_INTERNAL_IP}'"
-  echo "MINION_IP_RANGE='${MINION_IP_RANGES[$i]}'"
-  echo "DOCKER_OPTS='${EXTRA_DOCKER_OPTS:-}'"
-  echo "readonly DOCKER_STORAGE='${DOCKER_STORAGE:-}'"
-  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh"
-  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh"
-  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/salt-minion.sh"
-}
+# TODO: Move image detection in here once it is no longer shared with CoreOS
 
-function check-minion() {
-  local minion_name=$1
-  local minion_ip=$2
-
-  local output=$(ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@$minion_ip sudo docker ps -a 2>/dev/null)
-  if [[ -z "${output}" ]]; then
-    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@$minion_ip sudo service docker start > $LOG 2>&1
-    echo "not working yet"
-  else
-    echo "working"
-  fi
-}
+SSH_USER=ubuntu
diff --git a/cluster/aws/util.sh b/cluster/aws/util.sh
index a3d7d923702..1d56894992b 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/util.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/${KUBE_CONFIG_FILE-"config-default.sh"}"
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/common.sh"
 
 case "${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}" in
-  ubuntu|coreos)
+  ubuntu|wheezy|coreos)
     source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}/util.sh"
     ;;
   *)
@@ -172,10 +172,34 @@ function detect-security-groups {
 }
 
 # Detects the AMI to use (considering the region)
+# This really should be in the various distro-specific util functions,
+# but CoreOS uses this for the master, so for now it is here.
+#
+# TODO: Remove this and just have each distro implement detect-image
 #
 # Vars set:
 #   AWS_IMAGE
 function detect-image () {
+case "${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}" in
+  ubuntu|coreos)
+    detect-ubuntu-image
+    ;;
+  wheezy)
+    detect-wheezy-image
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "Please specify AWS_IMAGE directly (distro not recognized)"
+    exit 2
+    ;;
+esac
+}
+
+# Detects the AMI to use for ubuntu (considering the region)
+# Used by CoreOS & Ubuntu
+#
+# Vars set:
+#   AWS_IMAGE
+function detect-ubuntu-image () {
   # This is the ubuntu 14.04 image for <region>, amd64, hvm:ebs-ssd
   # See here: http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/locator/ec2/ for other images
   # This will need to be updated from time to time as amis are deprecated
@@ -856,7 +880,7 @@ function kube-up {
     sleep 10
   done
   echo "Re-running salt highstate"
-  ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@${KUBE_MASTER_IP} sudo salt '*' state.highstate > $LOG
+  ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ${SSH_USER}@${KUBE_MASTER_IP} sudo salt '*' state.highstate > $LOG
 
   echo "Waiting for cluster initialization."
   echo
@@ -885,9 +909,9 @@ function kube-up {
   # config file.  Distribute the same way the htpasswd is done.
   (
     umask 077
-    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" "ubuntu@${KUBE_MASTER_IP}" sudo cat /srv/kubernetes/kubecfg.crt >"${KUBE_CERT}" 2>"$LOG"
-    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" "ubuntu@${KUBE_MASTER_IP}" sudo cat /srv/kubernetes/kubecfg.key >"${KUBE_KEY}" 2>"$LOG"
-    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" "ubuntu@${KUBE_MASTER_IP}" sudo cat /srv/kubernetes/ca.crt >"${CA_CERT}" 2>"$LOG"
+    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" "${SSH_USER}@${KUBE_MASTER_IP}" sudo cat /srv/kubernetes/kubecfg.crt >"${KUBE_CERT}" 2>"$LOG"
+    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" "${SSH_USER}@${KUBE_MASTER_IP}" sudo cat /srv/kubernetes/kubecfg.key >"${KUBE_KEY}" 2>"$LOG"
+    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" "${SSH_USER}@${KUBE_MASTER_IP}" sudo cat /srv/kubernetes/ca.crt >"${CA_CERT}" 2>"$LOG"
 
     create-kubeconfig
   )
@@ -1066,7 +1090,7 @@ function kube-push {
     echo "echo Executing configuration"
     echo "sudo salt '*' mine.update"
     echo "sudo salt --force-color '*' state.highstate"
-  ) | ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@${KUBE_MASTER_IP} sudo bash
+  ) | ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ${SSH_USER}@${KUBE_MASTER_IP} sudo bash
 
   get-password
 
@@ -1132,7 +1156,7 @@ function ssh-to-node {
   fi
 
   for try in $(seq 1 5); do
-    if ssh -oLogLevel=quiet -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@${ip} "${cmd}"; then
+    if ssh -oLogLevel=quiet -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ${SSH_USER}@${ip} "${cmd}"; then
       break
     fi
   done
diff --git a/cluster/aws/wheezy/util.sh b/cluster/aws/wheezy/util.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..195542096f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/aws/wheezy/util.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+
+# A library of helper functions for Wheezy.
+
+source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/ubuntu/common.sh"
+
+SSH_USER=admin
+
+# Detects the AMI to use for wheezy (considering the region)
+# Source: https://wiki.debian.org/Cloud/AmazonEC2Image/Wheezy
+#
+# Vars set:
+#   AWS_IMAGE
+function detect-wheezy-image () {
+  if [[ -z "${AWS_IMAGE-}" ]]; then
+    case "${AWS_REGION}" in
+      ap-northeast-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-b25d44b3
+        ;;
+
+      ap-southeast-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-aeb49ffc
+        ;;
+
+      ap-southeast-2)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-6b770351
+        ;;
+
+      eu-central-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-98043785
+        ;;
+
+      eu-west-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-61e56916
+        ;;
+
+      sa-east-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-3d8b3720
+        ;;
+
+      us-east-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-e0efab88
+        ;;
+
+      us-west-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-b4869ff1
+        ;;
+
+      us-west-2)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-431a4273
+        ;;
+
+      us-gov-west-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-d13455f2
+        ;;
+
+      cn-north-1)
+        AWS_IMAGE=ami-48029071
+        ;;
+
+      *)
+        echo "Please specify AWS_IMAGE directly (region not recognized)"
+        exit 1
+    esac
+  fi
+}