Deployed Airmen power long-term mission Published May 25, 2010 By Staff Sgt. Kelly White 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) -- As the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing transforms from its short-term origins to an enduring operation, the petroleum, oil and lubricants flight is one key to this revolution as the base's providers of energy . "A lot of people think of POL as the guys on the flightline in the big tan trucks," said Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Harden, a 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron fuel service center NCO in charge. "Yes, we provide aircraft with fuel, but we're more diverse than that. We also receive, store, quality test, issue and account for capitalized fuel and cryogenics belonging to the Defense Energy Support Center." In addition to fueling hundreds of aircraft a day, POL Airmen provide fuel to power plant generators producing electricity for various base areas. They also supports missions such as Army parachute riggers, radar sites, British ground equipment, cryogenic support to the entire area of responsibility and encoding gas keys for every vehicle on base to refuel at the base service station. "Making sure clean, serviceable fuel is available basewide is a multifaceted process the flight of less than 100 specialists is tasked with," said Master Sgt. Paul Hutcheson, the fuels operations section chief. "We are broken into multiple areas to properly manage resources." The POL flight consists of eight internal elements; fuels storage, laboratory, support and training, maintenance, cryogenics, service center, compliance and distribution. "Before we can distribute the fuel, it goes through many different steps for quality assurance to ensure we are issuing (on specification) product," Sergeant Hutcheson said. "Without strict quality-control measures, the mission here would be severely impacted. Laboratory personnel work behind the scenes to ensure our fuel is on-spec every time. Distribution moves fuel on the flightline. What these men and women do in a month is unrivaled by any other base in the (Department of Defense)." As the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing missions shift toward establishing a permanent presence in Southwest Asia, significant changes are taking place in how the fuel business is done here. When this rotation first arrived in January, the POL flight was tasked with removing temporary fuel storage and distribution systems that had been replaced with a fixed-hydrant facility system. "At one time, tank trucks used to deliver all the fuel to base to be stored in 200,000-gallon fabric bladders," said Tech. Sgt. Tobie Inman, the 379 ELRS fuels storage NCO in charge. "There was (nearly three) miles of expeditionary above-ground pipeline on base that connected two geographically separated storage points to replenish mobile refueling units. Although the pipeline served its purpose for almost eight years, it proved to be an arduous means of re-supply with constant maintenance issues and the extra manpower needed to operate. This ultimately slowed response time to the aircraft." Eighteen people were tasked to remove the expeditionary storage systems. "It was manual, labor-intensive work, transferring fuel out of the bladders until we reached the unobtainable level," Sergeant Inman said. "From there, we used a pump, like a water pump made especially for fuel, to empty what remained in the bladders, transferring it into one collection point." Their innovative actions saved the Air Force nearly $450,000 in disposition fees for about 170,000 gallons of unserviceable JP-8 fuel. "We could have barreled the fuel and turned it into hazardous waste, but we reclaimed it, filtered it and put it back as usable stock, with no product deficiencies," Sergeant Inman said. A contractor-provided, state-of-the art hydrant system and underground hydrant piping to the flightline are now in place. "This change has hugely improved the flight's capabilities and allowed for the reallocation of (Airmen) to other areas within the flight," added Sergeant Hutcheson. The mission of some POL Airmen deployed here also takes them downrange. "This base is a hub," Sergeant Harden said. "There are three two-man teams that fly with the aerial bulk fuel delivery system while loaded on a C-130 Hercules or C-17 Globemaster III. They fly downrange to offload the requested fuel in support of (remotely piloted aircraft)." The key to keeping the POL mission running efficiently is applying knowledge gained by those with years of experience, strong communication and regular feedback from customers. "It takes a lot of coordination to get the operator to the right aircraft at the right time to meet mission needs," Sergeant Harden said. "What we supply keeps the mission moving, not only here but throughout the AOR."