Photo By Senior Airman Kasey Zickmund | An E-3 Sentry receives fuel from a 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron KC-135...... read more read more
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In some form or fashion, every Airman deployed to the CENTCOM area of responsibility feels the effects of round-the-clock air operations, but perhaps none are more in tune with it than those working at the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron in Southwest Asia – the largest tanker operation on the planet.
“Right now, there are more than 30 airplanes and almost 50 crews performing aerial refueling missions for (Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom),” said Lt. Col. Michael Frymire, 340 EARS commander. “Obviously, we’re 24/7/365, and all that we accomplish, with what little we have, keeps things here very interesting.”
While there are other tankers in theater supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, the 340 EARS KC-135 Stratotankers are the sole providers of air refueling over Iraq and providers of 45-50 percent of refueling over Afghanistan.
“Using my own paradigm from other flying squadrons, the amount of infrastructure we have here – based on the size of the operation – it’s pretty amazing we’re able to sustain it,” Frymire said.
“We have an interesting dynamic,” he said. “We’re Total Force – completely ‘rainbowed’ between active-duty, Guard and Reserve. There aren’t too many flying organizations that do that.”
Because of this dynamic, the squadron is constantly experiencing personnel turnover.
“There are about 15 different units here at any given time, and we have weekly deployment and redeployment – crews coming in, crews going out – and we do that continuously,” said the colonel.
Not only can the constant crew turnover be trying for actual flying missions, it takes its toll on the 340 EARS Airmen whose jobs are to keep track of it all – from the commander’s support staff, to operations officers, mission planners, communications, intelligence, records management, and more.
“A lot of times it gets absolutely crazy over here,” explained Frymire. “And most of our folks work seven days a week. I try not to kill them with 12-hour shifts, but there’s a definite burn-out factor. It’s tough on them, because things never stabilize.”
The 340th Aircraft Maintenance Unit is also hard at work making the mission happen.
“Our AMU is amazing,” said Frymire. “We can’t get off the ground without their support.”
Capt. Clarence Lovejoy, 340 EARS assistant director of operations, one of the many behind-the-scenes Airmen whose dedication and expertise helps make refueling happen AOR-wide, tackles the daily task of flight scheduling.
After deciphering air tasking orders from the Combined Air Operations Center and extracting, from this large document, the points most pertinent to the aircrews, he builds their daily flight plans and tracks every flight hour for the nearly 50 crews.
“We keep up a pretty good pace,” Lovejoy said.
“We do a lot of planning, but it’s basically the crews that handle the workload. They’re flying long sorties. Our crews often will push their monthly flying hour limits, so we have to sit them down for a few days,” he explained. “And on top of flying hours, we have to keep them on a circadian rhythm, which is probably the biggest challenge.”
Another challenge is fitting the right crew with the right aircraft.
“Not every crew here can fly every configuration of the airplane,” said
Frymire. “Our jets are subtly different. The (multi-point refueling system) pods on the sides require special aircrew certifications.
“Our alert requirement every day is typically a MPRS tail, because we can do either boom or drogue, which means we can refuel the Navy or the Air Force,” he added.
Daily and alert missions aren’t all the squadron flies.
“We support (Combined Forces Air Component Command), CAOC and (Combined Joint Special Operations Air Component), so we do several special ops missions every day, as well,” said the colonel.
Regardless of what type of mission the 340 EARS flies, there’s one thing they all have in common – refueling other aircraft in the skies over the AOR. This responsibility rests on the one enlisted aircrew member on board – the boom operator.
From a prone position in the tail area of the KC-135, the boom operator views the receiving aircraft, positions the boom apparatus to connect with the receiver and provides it with the fuel needed to complete its mission.
“This is some of the best flying,” said Tech Sgt. Jeff Stoermer, 340 EARS boom operator. “In 60 days here, we do what it takes a year to do at home station.”
In addition to operating the boom, his position entails several other responsibilities.
“I’m the third set of eyes, after the pilot and co-pilot,” Stoermer said. “I also do loadmaster and flight engineer functions – kind of a ‘Jack of all trades on board the aircraft.’”
Frymire said he’s most impressed with how all of the Airmen in his squadron perform so well at a mission that is ever-increasing in its demand on them.
“The volume of work all these folks do is just unbelievable,” he said. “We’ve been here doing this refueling mission for a while, and we make small changes and continuous process improvements over time.
“But at the end of the day, it’s just people working hard, focusing on the mission and getting it done – that, and lots of coffee.”
| Date Taken: | 06.13.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2010 04:36 |
| Story ID: | 51281 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Web Views: | 497 |
| Downloads: | 354 |
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