Keeping OEF mission airborne

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jeff Szczechowski
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  Back home, when a thirsty Air Force aircraft needs to be gassed up, fuels management flights have a 30-minutes-or-less response time to provide the fuel.

At Bagram Air Base, the fuels flight has put its own stamp on the POL -- for petroleum, oils and lubricants -- tradition of timely fuels service. When fuels operators respond to the refueling needs of an A-10 Thunderbolt II here, their response time is more like 30 seconds or less.

Master Sgt. Eddie Camou, fuels superintendent for the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group, said that his flight coordinates closely with the A-10 side of the house, so that when any aircraft land, one or more 6,000-gallon R-11 refuel units are positioned on the flightline, ready to deliver their jet fuel.

“Before the aircraft chocks hit the ground, we’re already standing by to service (the aircraft),” he said.

Operating on two shifts, around-the-clock, the seven-person fuels team here also services Army UH-60 helicopters, Navy AE-6 Prowlers and any of the large-frame cargo aircraft that do not fuel at the Army-run forward area refueling point.

Sergeant Camou said that timely, uninterrupted fuels support is all the more meaningful here because of the magnitude of the mission.

“You see these A-10s take off loaded down (with weapons), and some come back empty,” he said. “We know we’re supporting the aircraft that are supporting our people that are on the ground getting fired upon.”

Three Airmen who work hard to make sure the A-10s are ready to use their firepower whenever needed are Senior Airman Ellery Johnson and Airmen 1st Class Matthew Abner and Omar Foster, all deployed from Hurlburt Field, Fla. Sergeant Camou describes them as “eager to work and extremely competent fuels professionals.”

Airman Foster, for his part, said he has established a personal goal. He is out to break the unofficial jet fuel servicing record by one person deployed to Bagram. The mark currently stands at 750,000 gallons. He said the total was established in a four-month time frame, and that he plans to beat it in three months. Just recently, he went passed the 100,000-gallon mark for fuel issued.

Besides issuing an average of 25,000 gallons of JP-8 fuel daily, the POL team also oversees the storage and issue of liquid oxygen, which is used for aviators breathing oxygen. There are four, 400-gallon LOX tanks, with an interesting catch.

“There’s no local supply source (for liquid oxygen),” said Tech. Sgt. Robbie Bebee, the resident LOX expert. “We have to fly our LOX tanks in and out of the country to get them filled.”

Because of the resupply chain and the fact that LOX is issued at the rate of about 1,600 gallons per month, Sergeant Bebee said he has to keep a sharp eye on LOX levels to ensure that this critical product is always available.

Two other areas that require special skills beyond the fuels distribution arena are fuels accounting and fuels quality control. Like Sergeant Bebee in the LOX section, the positions require a person to hold a special experience identifier designation.

Staff Sgt. Chester Robbins is the accountant. He documents all fuels and LOX transactions, and ensures that all fuels lab samples are completed on the dates that testing is required.

The resident lab technician is Staff Sgt. Shannon Walline. The four R-11s assigned to the fuels flight require quality-control analysis every seven days, to ensure that only clean, dry fuel is issued to the aircraft. Fuel is tested for water and particle content. Sergeant Walline also tests for an anti-static additive, which is mixed in with the fuel to minimize the chance of a static spark igniting a catastrophic fire.

Sergeant Bebee said it is easy to be motivated here because “this is what it’s all about.” He said that it is not often that the Air Force gets deployed this far forward.

“For the Air Force, we’re on the front lines,” he said. And he said he likes that.