RAF MILDENHALL, England -- Team Mildenhall hosted a visit from the Office of High Sheriff Oct. 19, 2018, as part of a familiarization visit.
The High Sheriffs of Suffolk and Norfolk attended the tour, and after meeting with Brig. Gen. Andrew Hansen, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-U.K. director, attended a mission brief presented by the 100th Air Refueling Wing and 352nd Special Operations Wing.
The 100th Security Forces Squadron put on a display with Military Working Dog Berry, and also provided a Taser demonstration. The 321st Special Tactics Squadron showed off some of their specialist vehicles to the High Sheriffs. The visit also included a tour of a static KC-135 Stratotanker, CV-22 Osprey and MC-130 Commando II, and finished with a visit to the KC-135 flight simulator.
“Supporting visits like this is important because we have a special relationship with the British people and opportunities like this mean we can bring in the High Sheriffs and showcase to them what we do at RAF Mildenhall, why we do it and why it’s important,” Bentley said. “On the flip side, they can advocate for us if we need certain things from the local populace.
“We have American folks here and we want to make sure that we’re respectful and engage with the local community and be good stewards, as we are in their country,” he continued. “It’s all about relationship-building. This visit enables us to give them a better understanding of why we’re flying at night, and why we’re doing that training. It just helps share that message and they can be our advocates on the outside.”
The Office of High Sheriff is an independent non-political royal appointment for one year. Its origins date back to Saxon times, when the “Shire Reeve” was responsible to the king for the maintenance of law and order within the shire, or county, and for the collection and return of taxes due to the Crown. There are currently 55 High Sheriffs serving the counties of England and Wales each year.
Present-day High Sheriffs play an active and supporting role within their counties, both in relation to the police and emergency services, and in lending encouragement to public sector agencies such as the probation and prison services, and to voluntary sector organizations involved in crime reduction and social cohesion.
“The U.S. forces are a major part of our community and part of my role is understanding all parts and all people of the Suffolk community,” said High Sheriff of Suffolk George Vestey. “The American personnel living here make up a significant component of that, and it’s really important to have good relations and to always be working to make them even stronger. Part of that is understanding how that works and what it’s trying to achieve, and the challenges they’ve got.”
The High Sheriffs spoke to several Team Mildenhall Airmen in a variety of career fields, and said they were impressed by what they saw and heard, and enjoyed listening to the real-life experiences.
“Just the versatility of the actions, operations and issues they deal with – there’s a huge range of specialist activities and people who are deployed in all sorts of different areas,” Vestey said. “The U.S. Air Force seem really good at making the effort to engage the community around them. Being able to come on site to understand and learn more of what they are about and what they are trying to achieve, it’s really important and this is time really well spent. I’m hugely appreciative of the massive effort that’s gone in to making this happen.”