Team Mildenhall hosts RAF visit, helps strengthen military relationship

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  RAF Mildenhall played host to a British Royal Air Force regiment from RAF Marham, near King's Lynn, Norfolk, June 29 when 18 RAF troops visited the base.

As part of their force development training, the RAF members spent the day seeing the comparisons between the British and U.S. military. They were given a mission briefing and history of RAF Mildenhall, then got a chance to try out the flight simulator before taking a look at a KC-135 static display.

After lunch, they were given a tour of the air traffic control tower, attended a base promotion ceremony and ended the day doing team building exercises and having a barbecue at the professional development center.

"I've never actually visited a large U.S. base that's on this scale before," said Junior Technician Gavin Morris, a Tornado airframes engineer stationed at RAF Marham. "I've visited a Navy base in Naples before, but that's it. It's interesting to see how the American military works."

JT Morris said he hasn't ever been in a flight simulator before, and he was very interested in how it worked, compared to the Tornadoes he's used to working on.

"It's interesting to see what a difference funding makes - the U.S. gets much more money for its military than we do. I noticed that (RAF) Mildenhall has more C-17s here than we have in our entire Air Force!" he said.

Many Team Mildenhall members were involved in the visit and thought it a good idea.

"Promoting 'Airmanship' is one of the most important things we can do as (noncommissioned officers)," said Master Sgt. Matthew Becker, 100th Air Refueling Wing Professional Development Center career advisor and superintendent. "One of the ways to do so is to capture your surroundings and experience new adventures.

"A few months ago we decided to cross the cultural paradigms and coordinate a visit with our RAF partners at RAF Marham," he said. "By doing so, we opened up a new perspective of 'Airmanship' that wouldn't otherwise have been available. 

"Through team-building exercises, mission briefs and fellowship, we managed to blend the RAF and U.S. Air Force differences and similarities into a common 'one team, one fight' concept - proving that we are all 'brothers and sisters in arms,'" Sergeant Becker said.