My job is to get the receiver [B-52s here] their fuel so they can complete their close air support missions and make a difference from the skies over Afghanistan.” In direct support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the 135 pilots here have flown close to 200 combat support sorties in the last six weeks. “Our crews are flying four to five times per-week with 48 hours of alert duty mixed in, so it’s very busy,” said Maj. Nathan Diaz, KC-135 pilot. “The requirement for aerial refueling is far from being a thing of the past. If you ask anyone that knows anything about air campaigns, air combat, strategic, and even tactical warfare, they’ll tell you that gas in the sky is the long pole in the tent – the Air Force cannot conduct airborne operations, of any significance, without air refueling,” Diaz said. “That simple fact is what all tanker aircrews and the people that support them take pride in.” B-52 pilots here mirror that same sentiment about the vitality of the stratotanker. “Without the KC-135, our mission here would simply not happen,” said Lt. Col. Mark Maryak, 28th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander and B-52 pilot. “Every time a forward air controller, on the ground in Afghanistan, contacts or looks up and sees our bombers, we’re well aware that it took at least two KC-135s from this Forward Operating Location to make it happen,” Maryak said. “Whenever we, as B-52 aircrew members, have the opportunity to shape the battlefield with our armament, we realize that it’s the fuel from the tanker that got us to the battlefield.” Lt. Col. Marc Van Wert, 28th EARS commander and KC-135 pilot, has a special place in his heart for the tanker aircrews. “Our crews are doing a phenomenal job supporting the warfighter. It’s not uncommon to find young crewmembers today with more than 2,000 flying hours early in their career,” Van Wert said. “It’s because they have been ‘fueling the fight’ for multiple world-wide taskings since Sept. 11. We are asking them to fly a great deal to support the warfighter, and they have answered the call time and time again.” |