Airmen cross 100-mission milestone

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Michael A. Ward
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Somewhere out there is an old Air Force veteran who has been around and has seen practically everything.

Impressing him will not be easy, but you try. First, you tell him you just logged 100 combat missions in a tanker. Impressive, but he does not flinch. Then you tell him you did it in just three years. Very impressive, but he still does not flinch. Then you tell him that you are a senior airman or a lieutenant and that you have only been in the Air Force for three years. He still does not flinch, but an eyebrow raises just a hair, and you know that he is impressed.

One hundred combat missions is a significant milestone, but until recently, most fliers, including fighter pilots, could go an entire career and not even come close.

“When I was a young company grade officer, it wasn't very often that you met people with (more than) 100 combat missions,” said Col. James Jones, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing commander. “They were essentially those veterans from Vietnam (who were Air Force senior leaders).”

“I’ve been in 16 years, and I don’t have 100 combat missions yet,” said Lt. Col. John Wood, a former C-130 Hercules pilot and 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron commander. “It’s a reminder to me how hard our Airmen are working today, both in the airplane and on the ground. The opportunity wasn’t there (before).”

Opportunities that did not necessarily exist just a few years ago do now for a new generation of fliers, and tanker crews are right in the thick of operations, he said.

KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-10 Extenders, which used to be considered stand-off assets and were generally kept further away from the fight, are now deployed to forward locations and are flying routes directly over Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said. Because they are so close to the fight and have a greater share of the risks, tanker crews receive combat mission credit instead of combat support credit.

“We are deployed farther in so the fighters that are supporting the ground troops or taking out targets don’t have to travel as far and can get right back in the fight,” said Capt. Ian Livingston, a KC-135 aircraft commander who logged his 100th combat mission recently.

Since January tankers from the 380th AEW have flown more than 1,000 combat missions and refueled nearly 6,000 coalition aircraft supporting operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

The average tanker mission lasts about seven hours, and some crewmembers have more than 1,000 hours of combat time.

“When you divide that by 24 hours in a day, that’s like sitting over Iraq for 40 straight days in an airplane,” Colonel Wood said.

“I never thought I would get to fly 100 combat sorties,” said Senior Airman Ryan Korhuniak, a KC-135 boom operator deployed from McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., who has deployed nine times supporting OEF and OIF. He and now has 150 missions. “My best friend and I were in sort of a race. He’s been trying to catch up to me, but he isn’t there yet,”

His friend has “only” 127 combat missions.

Tanker crews rotate to this wing and others in the region about every 60 days. Crewmembers do not pull a normal 120-day rotation because they fly so many hours while deployed. If they stayed longer, most would exceed the mandated maximum flight hour limitations set for safety, Colonel Wood said. Instead, they keep making return trips.

“If you look at a co-pilot with 20 combat missions, you know that he’s going to have his 100th within about six months or so because they just rack up so quickly,” said 1st Lt. Matt Ross, a KC-135 co-pilot from McConnell AFB who logged his 100th combat mission recently and is on his fifth deployment here since 2003.

As operations continue, more tanker crewmembers will log 100 combat missions, and someone will eventually get to 200. The milestone will become less rare, but hopefully, its importance will not diminish, officials said.

“One hundred will always be a great achievement,” Colonel Wood said. “That’s not to say someone that has 98 hasn’t done a fantastic job, but a centennial number is pretty good. It’s a feat we in the tanker force haven’t achieved in a long time. Whether it’s an airman first class or a first lieutenant, it’s neat to see.”