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Fueling the fight

  • Published
  • By Maj. Carie A. Parker
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan --  Afghan Assistant Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Jawhari, chief of acquisition, technology and logistics, with other senior Afghanistan National Army officials inaugurated Afghanistan's most modern Class III fuels depot Feb.28 at Khuja Rawash in Kabul.

The ceremony brought together the ANA and U.S. service members from Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan to open the $14.5 million facility three years in the making.

"Today we've unlocked the key to sustaining our military," said General Jawhari. "We appreciate the commitment of the coalition to the success and independence of Afghanistan."

The previous fuels facility, known as Khair-Khana, was a primitive Soviet-era facility, built around 1977, with a manual, gravity-fed system without electricity or pumps.

Not only was it an outdated facility with an inadequate distribution capacity, it was environmentally unsound and unsafe for operators. There was also no scientific way to determine fuel levels on either the trucks or within the storage tanks.

Recognizing this, members of the 755th Air Expeditionary Group, Logistics Embedded Training Team, took on the challenge of transitioning to a modern facility when the project started in 2006.

"We wanted to build an organic capability here because you can contract all day but there's a security risk involved," said Lt. Col. Jennifer Murphy, 755th AEG Log-ETT Deputy Senior Advisor, Afghan National Security Forces. "With the ANA running their facility there's more care taken in safeguarding the resources."

With the new facility came a steep learning curve. The ANA soldiers not only transitioned to a new location, they were catapulted to a new era. Before, haggard plastic tubing was stretched from refueling trucks to a rusty 55-gallon drum where a rubber-gloved inspector caught the unfiltered fuel in a clear glass coffee mug.

The inspector would raise the mug to the light looking for sediment. No sediment? Then the fuel is "pure." The process was inaccurate and risky to both the workers and the environment.

The new 28-acre distribution facility, not only increased fuel storage capacity by 500 percent but also boasts a filtration system within its tanks. On top of that, the project also delivered dozens of $200K bulk fuel delivery trucks with a system to filter the 5000 gallons they transport.

A laboratory was built to evaluate fuel quality and the pump house is also modern with systems to determine fuel tank levels as well as temperature. Central controls allow operators to accurately transfer fuel with the touch of a button. There's also a scale to precisely weigh trucks delivering fuel.

"This facility will allow us to support our army by providing units with a better quality fuel more rapidly," said Col. Mahtabudin, ANA Class III Fuels Depot commander. "This is significant for the progress and development of Afghanistan."

The joint team transformed the fuel supply chain, cutting processing time from 10 days to one hour and increasing distribution 200 percent.

"This fuel facility has come a long way from the former facility," Lt. Col. Joe Biggers, Log-ETT Senior Advisor, GS-G4, stated at the inauguration. "It is helping to modernize the ANA fuel distribution process."

The ANA handles fuel requisition, storage and distribution for the army and ministry of defense. The fuels depot will store and dispense aviation fuel, diesel, motor gasoline, propane and wood to keep the ANA moving.

According to the mentor team, it's the first time Afghans have supplied their own air corps and the goal is to have the ANA fuels program self-sufficient by June 2010.

"Our goal is to minimize misuse of fuel, putting true teeth behind the supply discipline," said Senior Master Sgt Chetan Sawhney, 755th AEG Log-ETT superintendent and lead advisor of the ANA fuels branch.

That's isn't the only goal of the Log-ETT Airmen. Gainful employment of the almost 500 area residents the facility is likely to employ is another hope.

"We want to keep these workers from becoming insurgents," said Sergeant Sawhney.

The advisory team of five has made a significant investment in Afghanistan. As an example, Tech. Sgt. Brett Rudish and Staff Sgt. Jason King realized early in the process that even though the facility was slated to store high-octane aviation fuel and kerosene, the service had no need for the varieties. An estimated $2.1 million in fuels inventory was saved as a result of their observations. The elimination of the unnecessary fuels freed up two of the facility's 10 underground storage tanks for diesel and aviation fuel.

Other members of the team were Tech. Sgt. Marty Phillips and Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Hicks.

In the meantime, a new crew has arrived to pick up where the outbound team has left off. Their focus will be on a secondary fuels depot at Pol-e-Charki, just a few miles away. The facility is under construction and should open this summer.