#RAF Mildenhall

[nocternalrandomness]

Taxiing to the active - RAF Mildenhall - June 1984

[usafphantom2]

SR71A IAT Fairford by rac819 Via Flickr: High speed, low level pass.....

[bcolfanfic]

young vets au brain dump - croz being complicated version

(disclaimer: i love croz. me making him a complicated little shit in this au should not be interpreted as character bashing. i find his journey over the course of mota fascinating and figuring out how to translate that to a different setting/different war has been a fun thought experiment for me. pls don’t jump me. messy characters make the world go round!)

him and jean met in high school. sweet babies.

then they *had* a baby a lot sooner than they were really expecting. both of em out of high school, but barley.

they love each other and do everything right but shit is hard and the military preys on people trying to make ends meet

so, well- 1+1=s 2 off to basic he goes.

ends up in afghanistan around the same time bucky and gale and all the other guys start rolling in there.

also ends up there with his bff from basic training, tech school and everything else. bubbles <3

the two of them end up bunking with demarco and douglas which is quite the right brain/left brain dynamic lol.

croz and bubbles' side of the room is snowglobes and kid pictures and demarco and douglas' side is women from magazines taped on the wall god love em.

gets along decently well with everyone but.

then bubbles dies and that's when everything really starts to go to shit.

i wrote a little about his initial fight with bucky about the IED that killed bubbles here.

they don't really make up from that.

for a long while.

croz is in a spiral about losing his best friend, bucky is starting to not do so well with the preindictment they're all in himself and they just. really set each other off.

kinda freaks everyone out bc they remember sweet baby face croz who puked a lot but now he's just different. damn war.

it gets to a point where him and bucky can't be in the same room without popping off at each other. and everyone else is having to micromanage them on top of having to do their actual jobs in war zone. (70% of the time its brady having to keep bucky away if not gale. croz's "insurance" buddies are rosie and douglas)

does end up getting involved with a girl in another unit

douglas and demarco clock it before anyone else bc he starts coming to bed at weird hours and they see him around this girl and just knowww.

pisses demarco off esp bc he had a whole Thing with finding out his girl back home cheated on him.

one night demarco decides to wait up for him to get back from wherever the fuck it is he goes with her at night and just about fucking jumps him and douglas has to pull him off (after he gets a good whack in)

it was a *loud* commotion of a fight lmfao bucky could hear it from their room and wanted to go see what was going on but gale was like noooppeee. no y' don't.

croz ends up telling jean everything. she forgives him. ("women! eliza could leave alex now for cheating on her. or not. as she wished." - vanessa nadal on eliza hamilton)

him and bucky make up during the pull out from afghanistan bc bucky just about saves his life in the chaos.

poor croz just breaks down crying/panicking about how he wants to go home. and bucky doesn't see that little shit that he's grown resentful towards, he sees that nervous pukey kid from when they first met

buttt...post war things get a little dicey again.

bc he stays in.

bagram sucked the war sucked but. he still has a family to provide for, he's not totally on the outs with the forces so he ultimately decides leaving would be more work than it's worth.

gets deployed to raf mildenhall base in england and gets to move with his wife and kiddos to england so. not a bad deal.

but there are. feelings. amongst the others about him staying in.

especially curt- who is the most "fuck all of that and the government too". getting his leg blown off fucked him up 7 ways to sunday and just completely shaped his view on it all.

the two of them get reallllly into it once when all the guys are together and it gets. ugly.

curt says a whole lot of shit about how he doesn't know how he can look at his kids knowing what they saw happen to kids overseas, what /they/ endorsed by being there. croz says its none of his business- he had his reasons for staying in, curt says name one that isn't selfish and it just. escalates. till they're both yelling and mean. croz eventually says something dumb on impulse about how he won't apologize for not letting the war radicalize him against his country and curt has to be yanked back from decking him lmfao. just another night!

if the others weren't all friends with both of em him and curt would not fuck with each other at allllll but. they love their friends more than they dislike each other so they smile and grind their teeth and *try*.

the whole thing with bucky's drinking issues brings them together because they're on the same page about that at least.

have a longgg talk when all that is going on. and it makes curt's chest hurt bc man he really has his issues with this kid but. he knows he's doing what he genuinely believes he has to, knows he only enlisted to begin with bc he felt like it was the only way he could provide for his family.

knows that all the issues he has with the guy the fuckin military is to blame for just as much if not more than croz is himself.

a more lighthearted side bar: bucky ribs him about staying in a little too- is just more lighthearted on it bc they have become more friendly since they left bagram (and get to being even better friends once they bucks have josie).

one night they're talkin when croz complains he can't do what he wants with his facial hair because of regs and bucky is like wellllll if you gotta the fuck outta there you could grow a handlebar mustache. don't let your dreams be dreams kid!

[dangerousthingobservation]

C-2A VRC-40. RAF Mildenhall. 26-07-17

[mercurygray]

Say more about Molly/rosie reincarnation au? 👀

In the reincarnation AU I wrote for The Darkening Sky, it's the finding of a specific object that belonged to the past self that triggers the reemergence of memories (and in that story, a ghost)

The current 100th Air Refueling Wing, which is stationed at RAF Mildenhall, is the direct descendant of the 100th Bomber Group and does a lot of volunteer work at Thorpe Abbotts to maintain the airfield and help with site maintenance.

What I'm imagining is an Operation Nightengale or Time Team -type project to do an excavation at Thorpe Abbotts.

Rosie (a Judge Advocate General type) has volunteered for the week-long project hoping it will get him away from his desk and bring him closer to the great-uncle whose own wartime service inspired his own. He meets Molly (running the dig site) and spends a few days clambering around in the dirt while sending plenty of pictures of the work back to the group chat, which includes Cros (so many baby pictures) and Pappy (so many dog pictures.)

One day they find a charm from a necklace - something that clearly slipped off its chain one day and was never recovered. Careful cleaning reveals some initials and some time is spent with a personnel list from the period trying to match them up.

Meanwhile, Molly has found some letters in the museum collection that mention Rosie's great-uncle, which she shares with Rosie over beers one night. The person writing the letter mentions that the older Rosenthal (who rejoined after his first tour and was tragically shot down on his 53rd mission) was thinking of making something official with someone he knew in England - a story Rosie and his family never knew about. (They also discuss jazz, art repatriation, the current state of academia in the US, and being American in the UK) Rosie takes a picture and mistakenly shares it in the group chat, and madness ensues.

[tecco59]

Military Aircraft Flying into. RAF Mildenhall

[awfulhorrid]

I started reading Terry Pratchett when I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall in early 1989. A friend had the first three or four books and I devoured them in about a week. I was glad to find more at off base shops and quickly caught up to what was available at the time. I'm pretty sure Pyramids was my first "new release" Discworld novel.

When I returned to the USA on leave, I found my geek friends had not yet heard of Discworld or PTerry, so I was more than happy to introduce them, although the books were somewhat difficult to find in small town (or even small city) rural America at the time.

I finished my overseas tour and moved back to the United States in 1991, bringing my growing collection with me. (I still have those original copies!) My best friend at the time moved with me to an offbase apartment in Colorado Springs, CO, eventually becoming my boyfriend. I don't think it was the only reason we became so close, but I can't help but think my extensive library, including the Discworld novels, was a factor!

Over the following decades, I bought every novel that came out, as well as many of his non-Discworld stories. I even got to meet him a few times at conventions and local bookstores. It's probably accurate to say that he's the single author I've read the most in my life.

Yeah, those themes have been there all along and after 34 years he has remained near the top of my favorites list. (I don't declare something a favorite lightly.) I often describe his books at "philosophical societal discussion wrapped in a damn good story!"

Finally: One of the first things I did when I took over at my library as the web admin was to add the X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett to our header block.

Things Terry Pratchett Did

Made fun of the “unnecessarily naked/scantily clad woman,” “sacrificial virgin,” and “sexy heroine” tropes in his first two novels.  The first was described as being the most powerful of her clan of dragon-riders and the nakedness was properly treated as unnecessary in a clear parody.  The second turned out to be one of the more level-headed (while not well-educated) members of the party after her initial introduction, and also had a spine and knew (and got) what she wanted.  The third was described as wearing sensible clothes, was pretty but not sexualized at all, and was practical and smart.

Wrote an entire novel to critique the unequal treatment of “men’s magic” versus “women’s magic” in the fantasy genre.  Portrayed witches as just as if not more capable than wizards (when it comes to actually helping people, in particular), and also generally having more common sense than them.  Nevertheless created a little girl character with wizard powers, and had her decide neither wizard nor witch magic was sufficient and develop a new kind of magic all her own.

Included sex workers in his worldbuilding.  Made jokes about them the same way he did every other kind of person of any profession, but was also highly respectful and never critical of these jobs.  Described the head of the ‘Seamstresses’ Guild as one of the most influential people in the biggest city in the world.  Never showed or described in detail any sexual violence, including against these workers.  In fact, made sure to say that anyone in the city who harmed a sex worker would be dealt with painfully, embarrassingly, and/or lethally by two fearsome elderly ladies.  Even his more ditzy stripper character quickly smartened up and learned some true self-respect–not by quitting her job but by realizing she didn’t have to take any shit from men.

Included strong female friendships aplenty.  Included female enemies who were enemies over things other than men.  In general constantly passed the Bechdel Test and not only that, left it in the dust and had way more meaningful and realistic representation.

Five words: Dwarf Women Are All Trans.  More words: And there’s no way to know if some of them were trans in the way we Earth humans would understand it, too, and he clearly didn’t think that sort of genitalia-based gender labeling mattered.  Did not turn his trans dwarfs into a joke, but treated them simply as people–including a scientist/forensics officer in a police department, a prominent fashion designer, and the literal King of all dwarfs (who subsequently came out as Queen).  Portrayed transmisogynists as unequivocally wrong, and had protagonist characters stand up for and protect their trans colleagues and friends.  See also: had genderfluid characters in two of his books and at least one trans man, as well as confirming canonically that there are gay wizards, one of whom is really good at football.

One of his mainest of main characters was a blunt, bad-tempered, prideful old woman who is also good to her core.  Didn’t gloss over her unfriendliness or excuse it, but made her complex and interesting and overall likeable despite all that.  Also had a very amiable old lady character who also had a temper and would throw hands with anyone who’d mess with her family or best friend.  In general, steel-souled old ladies, wow.  Also steel-souled young girls.  

Said he was incapable of writing a weak, wilting female character, and honestly I can’t think of a single one in any of his books.

Please feel free to add to this list with other Things Terry Pratchett Did because I definitely didn’t say them all!

[defensenow]

F-16CM Fighting Falcons swoop into RAF Mildenhall

100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs | Story by Karen Abeyasekere | Friday, April 21, 2023

[rivaltimes]

NATO, closer than ever to Russia, patrols Finland for the first time

Finland is advancing in its process of joining NATO, and this Thursday the first surveillance mission of an ally over the airspace of the Nordic country took place. Specifically, a RC-135W Rivet Joint of the United States Air Force conducted a sortie off the Russian border. Online flight tracking websites captured the plane departing from the RAF Mildenhall in the UK on Thursday 23 March. The…

[nocternalrandomness]

Boeing RC-135V departing RAF Mildenhall

[usafphantom2]

SR71A RAF Mildenhall by rac819

[bcolfanfic]

all the #young vet au world building and background posts are sooo good <3

would love love love to know more about how the boys were able to 'date' when they first got together - the stuff you're already explored (like the first kiss) makes my heart ache with the cuteness

(i'm sorry if i missed it but are they the same age as the #mota boys here?)

good luck with your busy week :)

yeahh the ages are more or less the same!!! i have it in my head (and in the planning doc for the during-war fic that may or may not be written...eventually) that gale enlists when he's 21/bucky is 3 years older than him. i ended up bumping curt's age up by a year bc i wanted him to have an extra year on bucky lol, and ken is still the wittle baby of the gang! everyone else i could not tell you their birthdays off the top of my head anyways lmfao so you can just assume theyre the same age as they are in the show/historically. putting a chunk of my during-war planning doc below for ref but it is very word salady so sorry about that!

(while i loveee hyperrealism i am fucking a whole lot with how exactly tech school works bc i still wanted the bucks to both be pilots alongside being security forces/EOD and that's...not exactly how the air force works in reality lol. the path to be a pilot is completely diff then basic -> tech school. butttt this is a work of fanfic so in the interest of grinding my teeth and taking some creative liberties flight school is built into tech school and they maybe continue flight training while they're in africa. also random side bar, re: actually fully leaving the air force aftert they leave afghanistan, i currently have croz in my mind as staying in. lives in the uk bc he ended up getting sent to a RAF base that supports the us air force there, maybe RAF mildenhall? rosie also stays in for a lil longer because he almost goes down the JAG path but decides not to. still have to figure out what exactly im doing with the others outside of the core four who do just get straight out (core four as in bucky/gale/curt/ken).)

anyyways....to your actual question LOL. like i've said before i think it gets more practical when they're in afghanistan. obv *war wise* its more chaotic but they have their lil bunk room with curt and dickie and can let their guard down a little more. not just with them but with the other guys that they become closer with. it's still not ideal and they still can't manitain a relationship like they'd be able to in the states but. they find 'their things'. when i was messing with tech school stuff i threw around something that curt kinda ribs at them for being sitting practically in each other's laps on the couch when reading for class. and given how bookish they both are (gale more non-fictiony, bucky fiction) i think that'd be a cute lil something they do overseas too as ~enrichment time~. and if one or both of em has had a really rough day maybe instead of doing their own silent reading one of them reads out loud to the other one. it's just comforting <3 its the little things that are the Big things over there bc it does take an actual effort to make even that time for each other y'know? apparently bagram had a tiny subway that was open 24 hours a day, makes me chuckle thinking about them going there at odd hours, maybe when they can't sleep, just to be together when its mostly quiet.

[petnews2day]

RAF Mildenhall to serve as gateway for PCS, pet transport > Royal Air Force Mildenhall > RAF Mildenhall News

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/vL2Df

RAF Mildenhall to serve as gateway for PCS, pet transport > Royal Air Force Mildenhall > RAF Mildenhall News

ROYAL AIR FORCE MILDENHALL, England —   Starting Sept. 20, 2022, the Patriot Express flight, also known as the rotator, is scheduled to start flying into Royal Air Force Mildenhall for U.S. military and civilian members and their families permanently changing station to the United Kingdom. It will fly to and from Baltimore/Washington […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/vL2Df #PetTravelNews

[kgyst]

A gép átalakítható, ez meg egy plusz lehetőség.

Én azért kényelmesen el tudok képzelni pl. olyat, hogy magyar gépek kitelepülnek a világ faszára, mondjuk Red Flagre Arizonába álmodozni, és egy KC-390 támogatással repülik át az óceánt, nem körbe.

Vagy: elvben a magyar gépek minden nap tankolhatják a légi utántöltést, mert "elég egy telefon", de a gyakorlatban szerintem évek óta nem volt egy gyakorlat sem, mert túl nagy szervezést igényel, meg senkinek nincs a fejében meg satöbbi, most háta könnyebb lesz a dolog. Szolnok közelebb van, mint RAF Mildenhall.

Viktor új játékszerei készülőben

[j-r-macready]

F-15C Eagle 82-0016 - 123rd Fighter Squadron - Portland Air National Guard Base by stu norris Via Flickr: Trend 16 departs RAF Mildenhall.

[planes-tanks-racecars-nonsense]