Fuels technicians dig out, keep pumping Published Feb. 22, 2006 By Staff Sgt. Lara Gale 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AMCNS) -- On Friday afternoon here, fuel technicians from the 376th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron's Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants flight climbed out of a snow-free berm, wet and exhausted, but happy – only nine to go. Each dike holding fuel storage bladders for the refueling mission covers about 10,000 square feet – shoveling an inch of snow out of one takes about two hours with 10 or 12 people working non-stop. Saturday morning, they woke to four inches of fresh snow. The really heavy part of winter has only just hit here in Kyrgyzstan, but they don’t think about that much. They just tackle each snowfall as it comes, said Staff Sgt. Matthew Delles. Refueling is one of the major missions of Manas AB. Daily, KC-135 Stratotankers perform aerial refueling over Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. To supply them, the POL unit here moves about 150 thousand gallons of fuel every day. When troop movements and operations down range are heavier, the volume almost doubles, said Senior Master Sgt. Howard Heisey, Chief of POL. “We moved eight million gallons of fuel last month – four in and four out – despite the snow, despite the cold,” he said. “It’s a team effort. Every guy and gal out here has to work hard for us to get it done.” Snow on the storage bladders causes several problems: it changes the pressure readings for the fuel; if it melts it can lock the bags in pools of ice; and if it gets too heavy, it could potentially break the bag. Having those bladders safely snow-free is key to the rest of the POL unit’s dynamic operations. “We guarantee clean, dry fuel,” said Master Sgt. Bradford Bush, a fuels technician. “We do what we have to to make that happen.” “Our job here is to deliver fuel, and to shovel,” said Sergeant Delles with a laugh. It’s no small thing that these technicians spend four hours a day shoveling, because they have already spent eight hours taking care of everything else. Fuels technicians don’t just pump gas – they move fuel. “The minute the fuel hits those bladders, it’s our fuel,” said Staff Sgt. Ryan Smith, a fuels technician who specializes in chemistry. Besides testing the fuel for purity, his specialty is mixing ice-inhibiting, corrosion-inhibiting and static-dissipating additives into the fuel. The first gallon of fuel that comes through the pumps is whisked away to his science lab, where he measures, weighs and strains it through a 20-step testing process to make sure it will keep jets in the air – and more importantly, he notes, keep the pilots and passengers alive. The fuel moves to the trucks from there. The trucks are maintained as carefully as the fuel they carry. Every day, fuels technicians here run a dozen fuel trucks through a 20-step maintenance checklist. Weekly, seven steps are added. Monthly, three more steps are added. Meanwhile, anything that needs repairing besides the engine and the pump itself is taken care of in-house. When the Stratotankers land, the fuels technicians drive the trucks out and ensure the crew chief gets the nozzle securely on the jet. Only when the pumping stops do fuels stop owning the fuel. “We always say, ‘pilots are pedestrians without fuel,’” said Staff Sgt. David Goldklang, laughing at the phrase. “Nobody would get very far without us. And it would be cold – we do all the diesel for the heaters in tent-city, too,” said Sergeant Bush. When they’re done with all of that, they shovel, day in and day out, trying to keep up with the snowstorms. Airmen who end up on shoveling details return with aching backs, wondering how anyone could get up and start again the next day. “We don’t get a lot of down time,” Sergeant Heisey said. If the frightful weather outside doesn’t show signs of stopping, neither do they.