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380AEW Article

Lieutenant logs more than 1,100 hours in first year of flight

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Larlee
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
Southwest Asia --  His check ride in October of 2009 remains fresh in the memory banks of 1st Lt Geoff Cargill. It turned out to be the first of many hours he would log on the KC-10 Extender to start his career.

During the course of three deployments to the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, Lieutenant Cargill has flown more than 800 hours of combat flight time as a co-pilot. In total he has accumulated more than 100 missions and 1,100 hours of flight. Squadron leadership said on average, a first-year pilot spends about 500 hours in flight.

He said when he thinks about the numbers that they almost feel alien to him.

"It really seems like a lot, I don't feel like I have been up there that much," he said. "I have had the pleasure of working with three great crews and we have had a lot of fun performing the mission together."

The lieutenant has had the opportunity to accumulate those numbers because he willingly put the mission first, said 908th EARS Commander Lt. Col. Jimmy Shaw.

"Lieutenant Cargill is a fine example of a young co-pilot who is eager to gain experience," said Colonel Shaw. "He is always willing to help the squadron out."

Colonel Shaw remembers when the lieutenant entered the scheduling room at his home unit at the 32nd Air Refueling Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., a mere week after the lieutenant returned from his first deployment.

"The schedulers were at a loss as to who could fill a line that was departing in a couple of weeks," said Colonel Shaw. "Lieutenant Cargill stepped forward and calmly announced that he could do it. The great thing about the KC-10 community is that almost everyone has, at one time or another, either stepped up to deploy early or extended their deployment to help someone else out."

During a normal year, the average KC -10 crew member can expect to spend between 140-210 days at the 908th EARS said Colonel Shaw. When they return home there are additional Air Mobility Command missions that can add another 30-50 temporary duty assignment days.

Lieutenant Cargill said that while he misses seeing his friends back home, it is a price worth paying for a job that he finds so rewarding. He said he especially likes when he finds out after a mission that the fuel they passed was instrumental in helping out warfighters on the ground.

"It's rewarding to hear firsthand about the difference we are making," he said. "It makes all the hours of hard work worthwhile and it shows us that we are accomplishing something."