McChord reservists end 15-day tour

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Eric Petosky
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Air Force Reservists from the 446th Airlift Wing at McChord Air Force Base, Wash., ended their 15-day annual tour here July 30. 

The 28 Airmen are part of the 446th Logistics Readiness Flight and were immediately absorbed into various shops within the 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron. 

"This was my first time in England," said Capt. Roel Bacani, 446th LRF operations officer, "and it's been great. Transportation is available, everything is within walking distance, and the functional managers accepted us with open arms. What more could we ask for?" 

The visiting Airmen represented eight specialties, including fuels management, wing and logistics planning and vehicle maintenance. The 446th LRF is the third group of reservists to come to Mildenhall since April, according to Chief Master Sgt. Richard Bunce, 100th LRS chief enlisted manager, and four more groups will visit before the end of the year.

"They immediately joined our logisticians in vehicle maintenance, our warehouses and the flightline during refueling operations in direct support of the 100th ARW mission," Chief Bunce said. "While at Mildenhall, they also closed vital core upgrade-training skill sets, thus improving the readiness of their unit."

According to Master Sgt. Melissa Hoshaw, 446th LRF logistics support manager, the training opportunities available at RAF Mildenhall are invaluable to citizen-Airmen. 

"At home, certain sections are only open during (unit training assembly) weekends," she said. "There are a lot more training opportunities here, and LRS has been very supportive. They provided equipment and computers, and they've been pro-active with our training. It's been a good experience - the best I've had. I look forward to coming back."