Operation Allied Force comes alive through 'Tanker Living Legends' series

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) --  Four veterans of NATO's 78-day air war, Operation Allied Force in 1999, recalled their experiences through the "Tanker Living Legends" speaker series July 30 at the Global Reach Planning Center at Scott Air Force Base.

Among the "living legends" who spoke included Lt. Gen. Vern M. "Rusty" Findley II, the Air Mobility Command vice commander; retired Maj. Gen. Timothy C. Jones, the former director of programs at the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Programs at Headquarters Air Force; retired Brig. Gen. Thomas E. Stickford, the former 18th Air Force vice commander; and Col Roger Watkins, the 14th Flying Training Wing commander.

The four officers formed a discussion panel to highlight their involvement in Operation Allied Force and the challenges they faced during the conflict in the execution of the tanker campaign. Operation Allied Force took place between March 24 and June 20 in 1999. After a 78-day air campaign, NATO was victorious and officially suspended the war June 10, 1999, and declared the conflict over June 20, 1999, according to the AMC History Office.

In AMC's chronological history publication from April 2001, "Poised for a New Millennium: The Global Reach of the Air Mobility Command," it shows that nearly 160 KC-10 Extenders and KC-135 Stratotankers deployed to Europe to join the Kosovo conflict. Overall, by war's end, 175 U.S. tankers in the theater contributed to the campaign. 

Tankers delivered 355.8 million pounds of fuel to 23,095 receivers, according to the publication. 

The panel members were key contributors in the success of that war. General Findley, for example, commanded the 92nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Moron Air Base, Spain. His wing was the second largest tanker wing ever formed for a contingency operation. At its height, the 92nd AEW had more than 65 KC-135s and KC-10s assigned along with 1,500 people. 

General Findley said what they learned from meeting the high demand for Operation Allied Force helped make today's Air Force better.

"This particular operation is one where we learned a lot of lessons," General Findley said. "We were plowing new ground in many ways in how we do things in this command, and in the tanker business. A lot of things that were issues for us, I'm happy to report, are lessons learned. I do think we are doing a lot better today, in our command and in the Air Force as a result."

General Jones commanded the 60th Air Expeditionary Wing, based at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, during Operation Allied Force. The wing encompassed more than 50 KC-135s, KC-10s and E-8 Joint STARS.

General Jones said when he was setting up his air expeditionary wing he had to get things organized quickly to meet the air refueling needs of the war. It was the kind of situation where "you had to use your best judgment."

"It was that kind of environment where the Air Force wasn't used to that sort of pace," General Jones said. "It's something; however, that we're pretty good at now."

General Stickford was deployed to Vicenza, Italy, during Operation Allied Force. There, he worked in the Combined Air Operations Center as the tanker director responsible to the Combined Forces Air Component commander for all tanker operations in the deployed theater. That effort included coordinating more than 200 NATO tankers from 13 bases in 11 countries.

"When we were operating fully, we tracked 19 air refueling areas, 64 altitude blocks and 308 refueling requests a day," General Stickford said.

Colonel Watkins served with General Stickford at the CAOC in Vicenza as the chief of current operations in the air refueling cell. The colonel recalled his time coordinating air refueling efforts.

"It was an absolute baptism by fire for all of us. We had, at times, hundreds of airplanes in a space the size of Arkansas. It was absolutely amazing to watch the AWACs picture in the CAOC as to how they coordinated that campaign," Colonel Watkins said.

Colonel Watkins said as the war progressed and as tactics and time-sensitive targeting were fully developed, the deployed tanker forces were ready and in place whenever the need arose.

"It became important to us to be able to, on a minute's notice, tell the commander where the nearest tanker was to give him that capability," Colonel Watkins said. "We were able to do that quite successfully."

All four members of the "living legends" panel are rated command pilots. Their flying hours include thousands of hours in air refueling planes. General Findley has more than 3,700 hours, General Jones has more than 3,400, General Stickford has more than 5,300, and Colonel Watkins with more than 3,300.

"We've come a long way in the last 10 years in the Air Force. I think what we learned from this has made things better for our operations of today," Colonel Watkins said.

General Findley added, "It was very exciting to have been a part of this. One thing we learned during this conflict was that we needed to make things better, and today we are better because of what we learned."