Fuel specialists keep Air Force flying high

  • Published
  • By Geoff Janes
  • Warner Robins Air Logistics Center Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  There is an old saying that "the Army runs on its stomach." Well, the Air Force runs on fuel, jet fuel, and lots of it.

The Air Force's petroleum office makes sure the Air Force has fuel whenever and wherever it needs it, according to Col. David King, commander of Detachment 3 of the Air Force's petroleum office, in Fort Belvoir, Va.

The airmen who deploy and operate the fuel facilities for today's warfighters are pooled from across the Air Force. They handle all of the logistics that go along with setting up and operating fuel points in remote locations. According to King, those people are rotating in and out of forward operating locations every 90 days.

A key element of deployed fuel operations are giant fuel bladders, 50,000- and 210,000-gallon bags used to hold fuel used in all types of military vehicles. Those bladders play an important role in the way the U.S. armed forces does business. The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center here is responsible for buying, maintaining and managing fuel bladders for the Air Force.

Chief Master Sgt. Greg Hoelscher, from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, was a member of the group that set up the refueling station in Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. Within 72 hours of arrival, he and his crew were servicing aircraft like the one Maj. Greg Scheer, of the 19th Air Refueling Group here flies.

According to Scheer, it only took an hour and a half after he landed his KC-135 Stratotanker to be refueled and get back in the air. Scheer loaded up roughly 20,000 gallons.

In an average day, the fuel point at Al Udeid pumps between 300,000 and 500,000 gallons of fuel per day, and the people working the station pull 12-hour shifts. And according to King, it is a prime example of what fuels people are doing to support the warfighter.

King said there are two ways for an aircraft to get fuel in a forward-operating location.

"A plane can land at an international airport for a one-time shot," he said. "But for any type of sustained military activity, and for force protection and political considerations, we set up our own facilities."

"We are presenting our forces differently to the warfighter," King said. "It's leading-edge stuff. What it means to (the fuels operation) is that a guy goes in and lays out the base. By Day 3, the base is supposed to be open -- Hoelscher did that."