Fueling the fight

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kerry Solan-Johnson
  • 332d Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  The punch behind the wing's airpower footprint is fed by fuel -- nearly 12 million gallons every four months. 

The 332d Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron's petroleum, oil and lubricants flight provides that fuel to aircraft at the second busiest single-runway in the world.
 
Aircraft siphon fuel from the flight's 13 fuel trucks, lightening the driver's 6,000-gallon load until the driver must turn around for more. 

"Our objective is make the whole process transparent," said Master Sgt. Jeffrey Shirley, 332d ELRS fuels manager. "When we do it right, the end user shouldn't have a second thought as to the quality of the fuel or where it's coming from." 

In addition to liquid oxygen, POL troops handle diesel, aviation gas and jet propulsion fuel. The flight has the ability to refuel any model of aircraft that lands here and is authorized to receive fuel. 

The demand for fuel -- between 100 to 200 requests every 24 hours -- has driven the flight to utilize a fueling system in place when Balad was an Iraqi airfield. 

Nine of the original fuel bunkers here have the "plumbing" to refuel aircraft from within the hardened aircraft shelters. Currently, only two of the bunkers are used to refuel the flight's fuel trucks. The flight is exploring the feasability of bringing the other seven bunkers' refueling capability online. 

"Essentially these shelters have a tap right to the fuel; all we have to do is unleash it," said Tech. Sgt. Daniel Glore, 332d ELRS fuels operator supervisor. 

The bunker outlets refuel at a rate of 600 gallons a minute, cutting a fuel truck's 45-minute refueling time at fuel bladders down to 10 minutes. 

"This won't necessarily mean we'll need less manpower, but it has the potential to make refueling quicker, especially for the alert F-16 Fighting Falcons," Sergeant Shirley said. "With an aging truck fleet, we need other avenues of refueling." 

The POL team also installed aviation gasoline tanks, eliminating the need to fill up from 55-gallon drums and significantly reducing the time it takes to fill a fuel truck. When fuel truck drivers are in the desert heat for five hours at a time, responding to calls from transient alert and the maintenance operations center to refuel aircraft, anything to speed up the process is appreciated. 

"We have our own set of challenges out here," said Senior Airman Matthew Barnowski, 332d ELRS fuels controller. "Sometimes, the only thing routine around here is the shift changes."