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Lakenheath staff sergeant, Columbus native, helps fuel the fight for USCENTCOM at Southwest Asia base

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Staff Sgt. John Parker is a fuels distribution craftsman deployed with the 380th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels management flight at a non-disclosed base here. In the flight, Sergeant Parker supports operations at the flight's fuel storage area.

Sergeant Parker works in a 44-person flight that operates the Air Force's second largest deployed fuels operation supporting overseas contingency operations for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. In 2009, his flight pumped more than 188 million gallons of fuel to more than 9,500 aircraft supporting operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. Overall, the flight provides more than 40 percent of the fuel to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

Sergeant Parker said he can speak for his entire flight when he says they "are here for the warfighters on the frontlines."

"We support the second largest air refueling mission in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility - that is a big task," Sergeant Parker said. "Without our support, the troops on the ground who benefit from the effort our air refueling and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions our wing supports would have to wait even longer for a bad situation to be taken care of. We are here for the troops on the ground doing our best to give them the help they need."

At the 380th ELRS' fuel offload facility, Sergeant Parker's flight off-loads up to 60 fuel tank trucks a day or about 600,000 gallons a day. Every day, when fuel trucks arrive, they are off-loaded with two R-18 fuels operational readiness capability equipment, or FORCE, pumps. Each pump can process up to 900 gallons a minute.

From there, Sergeant Parker and other fuels Airmen manage the fuel in the fuels storage area. This area, nicknamed "Bertha," can store up to The fuel eventually goes to run operations around the wing and the USCENTCOM AOR "fueling the fight" -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Fuels Airmen like Sergeant Parker operate mobility fuels equipment such as the R-11 and R-12 fuels trucks to refuel aircraft, his Air Force specialty job description states. He also maintains and operates petroleum-related facilities and equipment and performs quality analysis on products. Additionally, he performs operator maintenance on fuels handling equipment and facilities and prepares receipt, inventory and issues documents for fuels products accounting.

The job description also requires maintaining storage and dispensing facilities, rotating stocks to prevent product quality degradation, and ensuring an effective operator maintenance program is carried out. Fuels Airmen like Sergeant Parker also operate a fuels control center to monitor all product movements and ensure timely response to mission requirements. They coordinate refueling requirements with supported agencies and ensure appropriate prioritization of support
requirements.

Furthermore, as a fuels distribution Airman, Sergeant Parker has to maintain mandatory job knowledge in numerous areas such as composition, properties, and characteristics of petroleum products and cryogenics fluids. He must also know about environmental protection procedures; conservation; methods of receiving, storing, testing and evaluating fuel and cryogenic fluids under normal, field or remote conditions; and fuels deployment and contingency operations.

Sergeant Parker is deployed from the 48th Logistics Readiness Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, England, and his hometown is Columbus, Ohio. He said he is honored to have joined the military.

"I joined the military to see the world," Sergeant Parker said. "It has been gratifying not only to serve in these foreign lands, but also to help, learn from, and protect their new-found freedom. I love my job, I love my brothers and sisters in arms. We are all here taking care of business the best way possible. I am proud to be among them."

The 380th ELRS is a sub-unit of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. The wing is home to the KC-10 Extender, U-2 Dragon Lady, E-3 Sentry and RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft. The wing is comprised of four groups and 12 squadrons and the wing's deployed mission includes air refueling, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of overseas contingency operations in Southwest Asia. The 380th AEW supports operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.