RAF MILDENHALL, England -- English celebrity chef and TV star Robert Irvine met with Team Mildenhall Airmen at the Gateway Dining Facility Aug. 15, 2018.
The former Royal Navy cook visited with Airmen as part of a United Service Organizations sponsored tour of RAF Mildenhall and answered questions regarding his military service, cooking career and morale.
Irvine explained how important food is in regards to the morale of service members and the impact it has on a home station or deployed environment.
“Food is something really special; you know there are four things: mail, Internet, food, and fitness, that you have when you are deployed,” Irvine said. “You want to stay in contact with loved ones, you want to be able to work out and you want good food.”
Irvine also expressed how crucial it is for the enthusiasm of those who are tasked with boosting morale to be high and allow for the entire installation to thrive.
“Our job as culinarians is to make the best food that we can,” Irvine said. “Every day, when you come into work, and you don’t want to make the best food because you’re tired, fed up, or not feeling well, remember that you are the morale of the base.”
With this being his 14th USO tour, Irvine described his love for the organization and what he enjoys most about visiting service members all over the world.
“With this job, I am able to hear what they love and what they don’t love and the hardships they have,” Irvine said. “We take that back to leadership and tell them ‘we don’t have this equipment here or we don’t have this here’ and we do what we can.”
Irvine completed his visit by imparting words of advice for those Airmen facing daily challenges overseas.
“Embrace change, embrace your job and embrace a leadership role,” Irvine said. “Because when you leave the military, those leadership traits will make you stand out.”