Support flights critical to 22 EARS success

Published April 10, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Carolyn Viss
376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan -- As the 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron celebrates the 16,000th sortie milestone, many behind-the-scenes Airmen take pride in knowing their jobs make these flights possible.

Maintenance, fuels, weather, intelligence, command post, and maintenance operations center Airmen, as well as every support flight at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, is a direct contributor to this long-term success.

One such flight is the Maintenance Operation Center, termed simply the "MOC." They monitor and coordinate sortie production, maintenance production, and execution of the flying and maintenance schedules while maintaining visibility of fleet health indicators, according to Staff Sgt. Natasha Gaines, a MOC senior controller.

"Our position has so many various functions day to day, but it's critical as a liaison between the KC-135 maintainers on ground and getting the mission in the air," she said. "It all equates to accurate information between the line and our organizations which allows the crew to departures on time, which turns into on-time air refueling."

As a consolidated command post with members from many different bases, it's amazing to see how everything comes together, she said.

MOC controllers are actually maintainers by trade, she continued.

"When you turn a wrench every single day, sometimes you may not know how you contribute to the mission. To know that we helped maintenance on the ground get those planes in the air is pretty amazing!"

Although her career is now office-based, she knows the Airmen outside are getting dirty and suffering through all sorts of weather to turn jets in time for take-off.

"Happy is the name - turning jets is the game" is the slogan Senior Airman Jared Camper, a 376th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron tanker maintainer, wrote on his head set. Although this deployment has - again - taken him away from his wife and soon-to-be third child, he spends his multi-hour shifts chatting with coworkers as he gets the KC-135s air-worthy and is glad to be contributing to such a great mission.
"The impact we have on the mission of the 22nd EARS is, we essentially turn aircraft and prepare them for flight so they can take gas downrange and offload it to receivers that are protecting our troops on the ground," said Tech. Sgt. Jason Guzy, 376th EAMXS crew chief.

"When I hear a number like 16,000 sorties that were generated, I know that's just one of the many important numbers," he said. "There's so much more that goes into generating missions than just flying. The guys are spending an incredible amount of time on the ground fixing and refueling the jets to make them mission-capable. It's exciting to know that not only me but the guys who work with me and for me are doing their best to get those airplanes downrange."

The number of hours that go into a single sortie vary, according to Master Sgt. Chris Reiter, the maintenance and aero repairs flight controls landing gear flight chief.
On top of the normal hours it takes to turn a jet that doesn't need any unusual repair, he said, its takes more hours of work if the plane needs, for example, new brakes. It takes more than three Airmen to jack up a KC-135, and many more to keep operations running smoothly.

"I have a lot of pride when I see a sortie take off," Sergeant Reiter said. He has friends downrange, so he knows what he does has real-world impact, he said.

But, of course, the tanker would be just another airline jet without the fuel they deliver.
The 376th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron petroleum, oil and lubricants flight works around the clock to ensure the planes are gassed to go.

"A normal day for these Airmen is getting to work, pumping gas for hours straight without a break, grabbing a bite to eat, and then going back out on the flight line to pump gas until they are relieved. They stay busy no matter what is going on," said Master Sgt. Scott Hunkins, who recently supervised two night shift Airmen who each pumped one million gallons of jet fuel in March, working multi-hour shifts six days a week. Altogether, the flight pumped more than 12 million gallons in that one month.

Altogether, the amount of fuel off-loaded in 16,000 sorties is simply immeasurable, as is the work that America's Airmen put into each mission.

At the end of the day, every single Airman on the Transit Center can take some credit for the 22nd EARS' historic 16,000 sorties said Col. Chris Patterson, 376th Expeditionary Operations Group commander.

"Obviously nothing happens without maintenance and fuel, but there is so much more," he said. "The air refueling mission is a total team effort; every unit on the Transit Center has a piece of getting the aircrews or airplanes ready to fly."