International bonds fly high at Sheppard

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jelani Gibson
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Sheppard is honoring its international partners through the sacred military tradition of retreat.

Each Tuesday as retreat plays, a ceremony initiated to signal the end of the duty day, the national anthem is now accompanied by an anthem of a partner nation as well.

Since the 2014 fiscal year alone, Sheppard has graduated 376 international students from 26 different countries.

Sheppard is also home to the 80th Flying Training Wing. The 80th FTW hosts the world's only internationally manned and managed pilot training program, the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program and currently has 13 partner nations participating including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the U. S.

"It's not just one nation doing a job, "said Royal Canadian Air Force Capt. Matthew Maurice senior national representative. "It's a group of nations coming together to make things work."

Ralf Taylor, 82nd Training Wing international military student office chief, is oftentimes the first interaction foreign military members have with their American counterparts. The playing of their national anthem is a part of giving them a sense of familiarity in a new culture.

"We can either make it or break it," he said. "You never get a second chance at making first impressions."

Joseph Donahue, 82nd TRW lead training manager, views such courtesies as a way of making students feel more welcome during their brief visit to America.

"We are winning hearts and minds," he said. "It reminds those international students that they are an integral part of what we do here."

The 82nd TRW provides mostly maintenance-based training at a subsidized price for students in partner nations. The students then get to work on aircraft and other machinery their nation has purchased from the U.S. and learn from instructors on Sheppard.

"We've got the best instructors in the world, we've got the best troops in the world, why wouldn't you want them (international students) to train with the best," Taylor commented.

Taylor knows that someday, any one of the students could be fighting alongside one another once they graduate.

"They're learning our culture and customs, they're teaching us theirs too," he said. "I think it's a win-win for everybody."

Helping international students is an important mission at the wing and it is one Taylor is happy to perform.

"I love what I do," he said. "This is the absolute best job in the world."

Each Tuesday a different anthem is scheduled to be played for another country and a formation of Airmen paying respects not only to their own sacrifice, but the sacrifice of their allies as well.