Posted on 01/08/2015 9:14:07 PM PST by tcrlaf
The United States Air Force (USAF) has confirmed it will pull out of three UK airbases.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Americans will leave RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Alconbury and RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire.
The move is part of a programme to save £320m ($500m) a year across Europe. The USAF lease the RAF bases.
Mr Hagel said he understood it would mean job losses and thanked those who had supported the US Air Force. "I know that this will result in a reduction of our local host nations workforces at some locations; I value the tremendous support they provided us for decades."
The USAF KC-135 tanker fleet based at Mildenhall will be moved to Germany. RAF Lakenheath, with two squadrons of new F-35 jets (48 of them) arriving by 2020, will be the aircraft's only European base.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Right.
Thanks for the link to the Stars & Stripes article.
No, I don't think so. Lots of Americans went “native” in the various countries they were stationed in (usually in connection with liaisons with the opposite sex) but the bulk of the base populations stayed pretty insulated. The bases go a long way toward keeping as much of America in them as possible, and that hinders integration. Money was also an issue, often. People shopped at the BX, entertained at the base clubs and theaters, ate at the base concessions,schooled their kids on base schools and took “tours” organized from the base. Their local friends often were restricted to those who worked on bases, and their circles.
This might be a good thing, on the whole. While a lot of Americans handled the experience with grace, many Americans stationed overseas were not the best at coping with local cultural differences and, even, didn't really want to be there.
Thanks for reply.
The family in the doc. were odd (at least to me). They lived plonk in the middle of chocolate box England, almost a caricature, with villages, village greens, markets, yet actually complained that locals didn’t own guns and because of that they didn’t feel safe!.
LOL.
Who decides the F-35 is under-achieving? You? I can't wait to hear your expertise and qualifications.
Anything different with Ronald Reagan as CIC was great.
Obama wants that gone.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/backroom/3180824/posts
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-f-35s-air-to-air-capability-controversy-05089/
oh and apparently the guns won’t be ready until 2019
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3242520/posts
Not this crapola again. We have more of them in other places.
That arm chair aeronautical genus is always spouting anti F-35 garbage. I am guessing he has Boeing stock and is still bitter they lost.
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