Record-setting fuels flight keeps gas flowing at Manas

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Mitch Gettle
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) --  Airmen from the 376th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Petroleum, Oils and Lubricants Flight help complete the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing's mission of delivering fuel, people and cargo to Afghanistan by keeping the fuel flowing.

The men and women of POL, commonly known as the fuels flight, in the Air Expeditionary Force 3/4 rotation fuels flight recently set a few records for Manas AB.

"We set the monthly receipt record in October when we received 7,256,000 gallons of fuel," said Senior Master Sgt. Mike Meacham, 376th ELRS POL Flight day-shift superintendent. "We also set the single day issue record (delivering fuel to aircraft) with 356,000 gallons in one day Oct. 1, the most ever issued in one day."

Members from POL are responsible for receiving fuel from the contractors and delivering the fuel to the aircraft, and every day the jet fuel flows from the civilian contractors' trucks to the fuel storage yard. Then, from the fuels storage yard, it is pumped into the R-11 fuel trucks and driven to the awaiting aircraft.

"We have 14,250,000 gallon fuel bladders for storage and we rotate the flow between them, as fuel is pumped into one the fuel is flowing out of another," said Sergeant Meacham, deployed from the 60th LRS at Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

"At Manas we have 37 people assigned to the fuels flight, and we move about the same amount of fuel as we do at Travis, but here we do it with about one third the amount of people as compared to at home," he said. "That speaks highly of the effort these Airmen put forth every day."

"Fuel comes through our intake pump and then we add three additives to the fuel, and it flows into the bag -- then it is ready to go to the trucks on the delivery end out to the aircraft," said Staff Sgt. Eric Filler, 376th ELRS fuel distribution driver who is deployed from the 28th LRS at Ellsworth AFB, S.D.

The additives help in aircraft performance and reduce the static electricity from friction caused by the fuel traveling through the piping system, said Senior Master Sgt. John Pietrusinski, the 376th ELRS night-shift superintendent deployed from the 126th Air Refueling Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard.

In addition to the records, fuels flight members began a new receiving process that will lighten the load on the security forces. A new offloading site for receiving the fuel from the contracted fuel trucks opened this week. This improvement means trucks do not have to come on base or the flightline to get to the fuel yard.

"We receive 9,000 fuel trucks a year and with security forces having to search each one of the trucks it can take 10 to 15 minutes each truck," Sergeant Meacham said. That time saved equates to approximately 2,250 man hours in searching vehicles or the equivalent of 93 consecutive days.

With the onset of winter, fuels flight Airmen not only are responsible to keep the fuel moving to the area of responsibility, but also they keep Manas AB functioning on a daily basis.

"Diesel fuel right now is our biggest challenge," said Sergeant Meacham. "We have three people working 12 hours a day non-stop to deliver all the fuel on the (temporary cantonment area) side of the installation. We're issuing 7,000 gallons a day of diesel fuel all over the base, and those Airmen are probably the hardest working people in the flight right now."

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