100th ARW Public Affairs office merges with 100th CS Multimedia

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Clark Staehle
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF Mildenhall --  The Air Force is changing the way it communicates with its Airmen and the rest of the world by merging base multimedia and public affairs shops.

The service-wide merger will allow the Air Force to communicate better and is scheduled to become effective Oct. 1, though the offices here have already made the move here.

"I think it will benefit the Air Force by putting the people together who really tell the Air Force story," said Senior Master Sgt. David Steele, 100th Communications Squadron, multimedia superintendent. "Before you had PA, and you had multimedia, and we were really doing a lot of the same things. (With this merger) it's going to put those pieces together so we can tell the Air Force story better."

The new public affairs office will serve as an example for the rest of the command.

"We're breaking new ground here at RAF Mildenhall," said Capt. Jamie Humphries, 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs chief. "We are the first public affairs shop in the U.S. Air Forces in Europe command that has initiated the merger and only one of a hand-full Air Force wide. We're very enthusiastic about the partnership and we're certain the change is in the Air Force's best interest."

RAF Mildenhall's multimedia center has many roles. The shop houses the base's photographers, who take official portraits, document events and comprise and support alert photography among other things.

Also included in multimedia is a video section - which documents newsworthy events on video - and graphics, which puts together art, certificates and 3-D animation.

The base public affairs shop is divided in to three areas: internal information, community relations and media relations. Internal information produces the Marauder and maintains programs like the commander's access channel, community relations engages and educates the public around the base and media relations handles media inquiries and press releases about the base.

"We're excited about the opportunity that's been presented," Capt. Humphries said. "The integration of our offices means we'll be better equipped and able to serve Team Mildenhall more efficiently than ever before."