POL Airmen help turn C-130 into flying gas station

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Bryan Bouchard
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  For Staff Sgt. Chris Cooper and Senior Airman Pete Kaplan, being fuels specialists is what they joined the Air Force to do. But the two petroleum, oil and lubricant experts had no idea they would be donning body armor and flying a 3,000-gallon fuel bladder around the desert, refueling much-needed resources for remote locations.

“I love it,” Airman Kaplan said. “You get to get away from the normal job. Not everyone gets to fly to forward locations and see exciting things.”

They are part of a four-person team from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, that has spent the last 30 days in Southwest Asia preparing for and flying missions with the aerial bulk-fuel delivery system. The system turns cargo aircraft into mobile gas stations, capable of delivering fuel to any location in the area of responsibility.

“Some types of fuel aren’t readily available in some countries,” said Tech. Sgt. Mitchell Peacock, a fuels specialist with the 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron at Balad Air Base, Iraq.

“If the fuel isn’t available in-country, we have to have it shipped in,” he said.

Once higher headquarters’ officials identify a need like Sergeant Peacock’s, Sergeant Cooper and Airman Kaplan start working.

A couple days before each mission, the two begin preparations and call the 745th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at a forward-deployed location to get mission numbers and show times. Squadron people make sure both fuel and fuels specialists reach their location, download the fuel and get home safely.

At the same time, they have to make sure their equipment is ready. To do this, they rely on fuels maintainers who work day and night to make sure all the equipment will work when it hits the ground. Sergeant Cooper said the mission requires a lot of teamwork to get the job done successfully.

Sergeant Cooper said his flying partner has a huge effect accomplishing the mission.

“Airman Kaplan and I work very well together, and we know that we can trust each other to get the job done without problems,” he said.

The day of one particular mission, the fuels specialists, normally adorned in traditional desert camouflage uniforms, arrived to work in flight suits. Following crew-rest, they accomplished some administrative tasks at their squadron, including drawing M-9 pistols and fitting body armor.

They met their crew at a preflight briefing about two-and-a-half hours before the scheduled mission-launch. During the briefing, the C-130 Hercules crew immediately assumed the two POL Airmen were security forces’ fly-away-cops, called Ravens. Few of the crew had even heard of the “bladder bird,” the nickname the fuels Airmen have given their mission.

“Most of the aircrews don’t know what we do when they first meet us,” Sergeant Cooper said. “So it’s important for us to get a good connection with them when we first meet. We always have good crews, which is good. It is their plane after all, and having a good connection with them allows us to do our job better.”

After a quick explanation and an intelligence briefing, the crew was satisfied and started mission planning; Sergeant Cooper and Airman Kaplan then headed to the marshalling yard to watch the aerial porters load their equipment onto a K-loader.

Thirty minutes before takeoff, the 3,000-gallon bladder was loaded onto the C-130 and filled from a fuel truck; it was then time to depart.

Airman Kaplan, who recently flew his fifth mission, said he is getting used to the idea of providing much-needed resources to other locations. Despite his increased comfort with the missions, he said he sometimes does get concerned.

“I just hope everything goes smoothly, and we don’t get attacked,” he said. “I want things to go well so I can get back to my family.”

After flying for a few hours, the C-130 approached the forward-deployed base. The lights in the aircraft dimmed, and the two loadmasters, clad in body armor, manned the troop doors with night-vision goggles. The kept an eye out for any rocket or anti-aircraft artillery fire -- something which is more common than not in many forward-deployed locations.

But before anyone had time to be concerned with this sobering measure, the plane landed and taxied to a predetermined location where the crew waited for a fuel truck to download its treasure of black gold.

As the crew disembarked the C-130, they said they smelled burning trash and smoke from near the former Iraqi air base.

Within minutes, a fuel truck rolled up to the plane. After guiding it into place, Sergeant Cooper and Airman Kaplan jumped into high gear -- the less time spent on the ground, the better, they said.

After exchanging a minimal of pleasantries with those waiting on the ground, Airman Kaplan attached a 3-inch hose to a refueling truck and gave a thumb’s up to Sergeant Cooper.

Sergeant Cooper was manning the pumping module in the back of the C-130 and started unloading the “bladder bird.”

That day, Sergeant Peacock and the rest of the Airmen of the 332nd ELRS received nearly 3,000 gallons of fuel.

Within minutes, the 300 gallon-per-minute-machine downloaded its payload, the crew wrapped up the hose, and it was time to head home.

“And we’re done,” Airman Kaplan said. “Not bad for a day’s work.”

Sergeant Cooper said his job represents the pinnacle of his service in the Air Force. When asked why he puts himself into harm’s way, he said, “knowing I am helping the folks out downrange so they can do their jobs” makes it worthwhile.

The fuel delivery system is not the only mobile fuel delivery process in the Air Force. Forward area refueling points are also used. It is when an aircraft lands at a forward location and fuel is pumped from the aircraft itself, like a blood donation, said Staff Sgt. Emmett Rittenour, who is deployed from Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C. He worked the program for a year-and-a-half while at Kadena AB, Japan. Soon he and others may join the four Airmen from Elmendorf to assist on missions.

All Airmen show work a delivery system attend a two-week course, Sergeant Cooper said. For the crews from Elmendorf, a mobile training team from the 18th LRS at Kadena traveled to Elmendorf to teach the class. The course, along with M-9 training and a trip to the altitude chamber, is what qualifies fuels troops for the team.