About Military Life

LAKENHEATH RAF
Lakenheath RAF is a base that is owned by the Royal Air Force (or British Air Force, or RAF) and is leased by the United States Air Force. Lakenheath is one of three bases located here in southeast England. The other two bases are Mildenhall RAF and Feltwell RAF. While the purpose of those living and working at Lakenheath RAF is to prep F15 fighter jets for battle, Mildenhall maintains the planes, and Feltwell is responsible for intelligence. Lakenheath is the largest of the three, and also the only base with a hospital.

F15 Fighter Jet

Mounted Planes on base at Lakenheath RAF

When at Lakenheath RAF (to be distinguished from the Village of Lakenheath), there is no doubt that you are on an active base. The base is busy (it feels like a being in a busy town) and you can hear the jets taking off at regular intervals, usually in pairs, and they are loud. Those of you who Skyped with us  while we were staying on base know just how loud, as we had to wait for the jets to pass before we could resume our conversations. The jets usually take off in pairs and land just over the main road we drive daily between work and home. I hope all of you who come visit get a chance to see a plane land. It is amazing; they fly only a couple of hundred feet above the road.


THINGS TO KNOW WHEN YOU COME VISIT

• The bases are like small villages complete with a Commissary (or discounted grocery filled with US brand groceries), BXs (a place where you can purchase almost everything you might need in life including, but not limited to, clothes, shoes, electronics, gardening tools, athletic equipment, etc.), a movie theater, gyms (with amazing equipment and classes) and restaurants (including Subway, Burger King, etc.), bars and gas stations (with great fuel prices).
• Every day at 4:30 the bases broadcast taps and the Star Spangled Banner. At this time, everyone is expected to stop where they are and place their right hands over their hearts as if you were at a ballgame. This is also the case if you were to attend a movie as the American and British national anthems are played before the start of each movie.

ADAM AS UROLOGIST
As you know, we moved to England so that Adam could take up his post as the Air Force urologist here at Lakenheath. This means a few things: (1) he is the only Air Force urologist located within the UK, (2)you can feel free to call him Captain instead of Adam,  (3) you can feel free to salute him if you would like (i may still giggle, but he is well used to it by now), and (4) he reports to work in full uniform, changing into scrubs for surgery. In addition, Adam is permitted to take advantage of something called a Liberty Pass, allowing him to take long weekends away from work without having to use time off, and his work weeks will likely be less than 40 hours a week. Goodbye residency. Hello, life.

JACLYN AS DEPENDENT
Although it took me a bit of getting used to, I have since embraced my roll as Military Dependent. This means a few things: (1) my signature does not mean anything (Dr./Capt. Walker must sign all of our important documents for them to be enforceable), (2) my personal identification numbers and information do not mean anything (if asked for the last four digits of my social, they are asking for the last digits of Adam's social), and (3) I am only permitted to receive an ID card, a gas card, a bank card, a phone contract, etc. if Adam authorizes it by signature. Yes, it is a different life. That being said, I have embraced the life of a Military Dependent and am embracing my role as "House of Walker, CEO" a.k.a. Housewife. Although I am currently looking for work, I am enjoying learning what it means to be a Military Wife, and I honestly hope I can live up to it. I have never met such giving, open, caring and strong women all in one place. They may not be able to sign official documents, but their families would not exist without them, especially those who have kids home and a deployed hubby (Anna, you know this is a shout out to you, one amazing woman).