Total force soars over Iraq Published April 22, 2003 By Tech. Sgt. Eric M. Grill 405th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (AFPN) -- Crewmembers from active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve joined forces in a KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling mission over Iraq on April 19.The crew consisted of the Wisconsin Air National Guard's Maj. Craig Campbell, active-duty pilot 1st Lt. Jacob Thornburg, and reservist Master Sgt. Troy Lawson. During the six-plus-hour mission, they passed 80,000 pounds of fuel to an E-3 Sentry."This type of opportunity doesn't present itself very often," said Lawson a boom operator from the 18th Air Refueling Squadron at McConnell Air Force Base, Kans. "This is the purest sign of the total force."The aircraft's pilot said he was not worried about how the crew performed together."We're all trained the same, so I wouldn't expect anything less," said Thornburg, from the 384th ARS at McConnell AFB."The reason this works is because all of the aircraft fall under Air Mobility Command, whether they're active duty, (guardsmen) or reservists flying them," said Lt. Col. David Henderson, commander of the 407th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron at a forward-deployed location. "There are standardized checklists (with) very little differences between all the units."Campbell, an aircraft commander from the 128th Air Refueling Wing, said although the crew did not know each other, the flight was not awkward."It's similar to my job at American Airlines (where he flies Fokker F-100s out of Chicago)," he said, "we show up at the plane, and we meet the crew there. Here our standardized (Air Force) training allows us to do this job, seamlessly."Henderson said this total-force flight is unusual because, in his experience, most units as big as the one here are split into two squadrons -- active-duty airmen in one and Reserve and Guard airmen in the other."Here we have a good mix," he said. "While reservists and guardsmen are generally more experienced fliers, active-duty aircrews have typically logged more combat hours. We're able to mix up that combined experience and pass that along to our younger airmen."Because Thornburg is active duty, he said being deployed is just part of the job. For Campbell and Lawson, being deployed from home can be costly; but they say being here is worth it."Each day away you're away from your job, that company is finding a way to do that job without you," Lawson said. "There's a degree of concern, but I also believe in what I'm doing, and that makes it worth it."