RAF Mildenhall host Caring for People Forum

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tabitha Lee
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  The RAF Mildenhall Integrated Delivery Service team held the annual Caring for People Forum at the RAF Mildenhall Chapel April 17.

The forum provides base commanders the opportunity to create measurable improvements in specific areas, which affect their community on a daily basis.

"The CFPF empowers Airmen and families at RAF Mildenhall to voice concerns or suggestions on Air Force policy and support services in a working group setting," said Sharon Rector, 100th Force Support Squadron CFPF coordinator.

During the forum, military members, civilians, spouses and retirees shared ideas about improving Air Force quality of life programs and activities for Airmen and family members.

"This was definitely a Team Mildenhall event; all organizations were represented either as participants, facilitators, recorders or subject matter experts," said Rector.

With the guidance of trained facilitators and experts on hand to answer questions, the forum's working group volunteers discussed support for single Airmen, family, spouse communication, school, health and wellness, special-needs family members, and deployments.

When the forum began, Col. Christopher Kulas, 100th Air Refueling Wing commander, stopped by each working group to encourage them to be open about their opinions and encounters.

"Feel free to bring all of your ideas to the table," said Kulas. "Your individual perspectives can't be wrong, because they're based on your experiences."

Nine base-level issues were identified during the forum and assigned a tracking number, and will be resolved through the Community Action Information Board and IDS.

At the end of the forum, the top issues and concerns from each working group were briefed to all forum participants, who then voted on the final issues to submit to US Air Forces in Europe. The CAIB will prioritize these ten issues and forward them to USAFE and potentially Air Force-level for review in similar CFPFs.

A participant of the health and wellness working group shared his perspective of the CFPF.

"My favorite thing about the forum was that Airmen, regardless of rank, got together and discussed real quality of life issues," said Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Kamback, 100th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron aerospace maintenance craftsman.

Progress on issues is reported regularly to base leadership and updated through local information and news media.