Engineers entertain with blaze of glory

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  The barbecue aroma of good old-fashioned American hot dogs and hamburgers still lingered freshly in the air as hundreds of onlookers gazed at a furious fire with looks of disbelief.

Rest at ease.

That fire was planned and ignited in the live-fire demonstration area. The scores of patrons on a RAF Mildenhall bus tour seemed to enjoy the spectacle none-the-less.

It was also only a small part of the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron's open house, held Aug. 21 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"It's been about 30 years since we've done anything like this," said Lt. Col. Matt Greene, 100th CES commander. "It's an absolute privilege to see the CE family all together in one place to meet, mingle and have fun."

In addition to many fire engines and a mocked-up blazing aircraft, the group of spectators got first-hand looks at static equipment displays, toured the fire department and training areas, got a close-up and personal tour of a static KC-135 Stratotanker, and enjoyed some American picnic cuisine.

"I'm excited to have a proper American hamburger," said 13-year-old Helen Fretwell, who traveled with her family about an hour down from King's Lynn, Norfolk, to attend the event.

Helen's family took delight when Senior Master Sgt. Opie Flax, 100th Operations Group, showed them the KC-135 boom pod, then took them outside and to the rear of the static display, and explained how the refueling operations work, while pointing out specific Stratotanker components.

Another big hit among the crowd was the night vision goggle display the base fire department hosted. Participants had to walk a glow stick-illuminated course, while wearing the NVGs, and test their dexterity by picking up the final glow stick.

"Awesome!" exclaimed 11-year-old Faith Funkhouser.

"That was cool," echoed her sister, 9-year-old Brianne.

Talking over and interrupting each other with obvious excitement, the sisters continued:

"It was easy to walk around with [NVGs] on and pick up the glow stick, but it was still super cool!"

In all, a few hundered British were present for the open house. This number includes members of the nearly 200 MOD employees who work for the 100th CES. About 140 American servicemembers are also assigned to the 100th CES.

For all of RAF Mildenhall, the day was a success as the team proved to be furthering their efforts to continue making RAF Mildenhall a great place to live and work, and foster exceptional community relations.