U.S. Senator tours Raptor maintenance training facility at Sheppard Published July 8, 2008 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, of Texas, got a look at the next generation of training at Sheppard AFB when she recently toured the state-of-the-art F-22 Raptor Maintenance Training Facility. As the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Senator Hutchison is involved in funding for many military construction projects, including the facility she toured, new student dormitories and upgraded runways. The senator said she doesn't want any other nation to gain air or space superiority and that she wants to help provide training to make sure Airmen are ready to go out on the frontlines. In a nod to the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program, Senator Hutchison recognized the key role Sheppard plays in helping the United States create relationships with its allies. Sheppard members are mentors to trainees that come from other countries, and that has given the U.S. friends all over the world, she said. Brig. Gen. Richard Devereaux, 82nd Training Wing commander, said it was an honor to have the senator visit Sheppard and recognize how important its training mission is. "The combat capability of our Air Force starts right here at Sheppard," General Devereaux said. "We're so proud of that, and it's not a capability that will emerge years down the road, it's a capability that happens months after our students graduate from here. So we're very vital not just to our Air Force but also to our nation's security and we're just proud to have a U.S. senator reinforce that for us." Senator Hutchison has been a member of the Senate for 15 years and is the first, and so far only, woman elected to represent the state of Texas in that capacity.