Airman serves in mobility division for war ops effort

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • 319th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Working in the heart of air mobility operations for operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, and for Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, Lt. Col. Bruce Hendrickson oversees a lot of movement, action and effort in the war on terrorism.

From his position as the air mobility division night chief in the Combined Air Operations Center here, Colonel Hendrickson is in charge of the integration and direct execution of theater and strategic mobility forces to support the joint forces commander's requirements and objectives.

“We have close to 100 people assigned to our division and we operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Colonel Hendrickson, who deployed from Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. “The air mobility division typically runs more than 140 C-130 [Hercules] sorties a day and more than 30 KC-135 [Stratotanker] and KC-10 [Extender] sorties a day -- offloading close to 1.3 million pounds of fuel a day to our receivers.”

Colonel Hendrickson said air mobility assets also move more than 1,700 passengers a day.

“We get the beans and bullets to the troops in the field and pass the fuel to the fighters and bombers that support the troops,” Colonel Hendrickson said.

The commander for the U.S. Central Command's Air Forces, Lt. Gen. Walter Buchanan III, said the CAOC represents the air component headquarters for the entire area of responsibility that includes 25 countries.

“(The CAOC) recognizes the flexibility and diversity of some of the airpower we have available in the fact that we are able to swing assets from Afghanistan, Iraq and JTF-HOA to support any one of the joint task forces in our region,” General Buchanan said.

“The CAOC gives me that ability to go ahead and exercise centralized command,” he said. “At the same time, the technology that we have in the CAOC gives me the … centralized command ability to be able to control airpower across the AOR.”

General Buchanan said the CAOC provides a link for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, and supporting components, along with the attack assets that U.S. Central Command has in the AOR.

“You can think of it as a communications hub where we will get the feed or tip from an intelligence asset, either a reconnaissance platform or even someone on the ground, and then we can fine tune our targeting process,” he said. “Then we can direct an asset whether it is to take a picture, provide support, or to put a bomb on target.”

Currently on a 120-day deployment, Colonel Hendrickson said he has learned a lot more about cargo and passenger movement and C-130 operations than he knew before. He also said he has seen how Air Mobility Command jets and crews work supporting the war effort.

Colonel Hendrickson said deployment life is getting better every day.

“The mission gets done, and will always get done,” Colonel Hendrickson said. “People are dealing with the time away. After a recent trip to Baghdad International Airport, I am very happy to be in the Air Force. We have deployments, but I met people there who are there for a year. So, being deployed where I am is not that bad.”

The lieutenant colonel said he looks forward to continuing to support the war on terrorism.

“I can’t wait to do what I can to support the mission,” Colonel Hendrickson said. “Flying would be better, but what I do now is just as important.”