Love those tankers

It was checkup time and, yes, I found today's Air Force in great shape. I find it hard to believe that they can still be a lean and powerful fighting force without my help but they seem to be doing just fine. Darn!

Ann and I were invited to MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa for a conference called Phoenix Rally. The theme: "Right Effects, Right Place, Right Time -- 'Fueling the Fight.'" It was a meeting of the senior leadership of Air Mobility Command, hosted by their boss, Gen. (four stars) Lichte. Also attending were commanders from the Air Guard and Reserve, a major part of today's Air Force.

AMC has responsibility for all air transportation and air refueling assets of the U.S. Air Force. To draw a little comparison, if you take all the aircraft flown by the U.S. Airlines, plus all the airplanes flown by FedEx, plus all the airplanes flown by UPS, AMC owns and operates more than that number. The major difference is that the civilian aircraft are newer and have flown fewer hours than the Air Force aircraft. For example, the Air Force KC-135 tankers recently marked 50 years active service. Yes the very same aircraft that I flew starting in 1965. "Join the Air Force and fly the very same airplanes that your grandfather flew!" Not so funny!!

John Casteel and I were invited to tell of our 1967 air refueling mission that earned for the tanker world the much esteemed MacKay Trophy. The trophy is awarded annually for "The most meritorious military flight of the year." Gosh, we old barnacles are now part of the heritage of the Air Refueling Community. It just boggles my mind to be honored for simply doing our job, a job that any other tanker crew could have done and are doing every day.

During my 15 minutes in the limelight, I told the group that it was somewhat humbling for an "old crew-dog" to stand in front of such a distinguished group of achievers!

Then I reiterated how proud I was to be a member of the Air Force that led the way for all of the United States in integrating all ethnicities into the organization, any organization of that time. President Truman simply ordered all the military services to integrate and our Air Force just did it. Red or Yellow, Black or White, we learned to judge a man by the quality of the job they do and that is the way it is today.

Then when the country decided that it was foolish to eliminate half the pool of the human talent only because they were female, the Air Force again led the way in integrating our ladies into the crew force. Present in the group of commanders before me were at least two lady Brigadier Generals, one having come up in the crew force as a navigator and the other a tanker pilot. All present of course already knew those facts but they needed to hear it again and take pride in those very human achievements!

I was the newcomer on the crew that 31st day of May in 1967. Pilot John, navigator Dean and boom operator Nate had been together several years. Unbeknownst to me at the time, they had been a specially designated crew that had flown all over the Pacific assisting a CIA operation involving U-2 spy planes. It was one of President Johnson's paranoid efforts to monitor the Chinese to see if they had developed a thermonuclear weapon. I brought to the table experience from being a crew commander in the KC-97 plus being a Certified Civilian Flight Instructor and I had originally been rated as an Air Force navigator. Experience in the air-refueling business, our crew had it.

Little did we know at the time but the Air Force had never air refueled any Navy aircraft. For the Commanders of SAC, who had procured and owned them all, tankers were a zealously guarded asset.

I guess we broke the dam of resistance when we were credited that day for "saving" the Navy's two A-3's, two F-8's and two F-4's, precluding their crews from having to ditch in the hostile waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Navy aircraft refueling behind big Air Force tankers is now a daily occurrence and it always should have been that way.

Tankers are considered "force multipliers" in that they extend the range of both combat aircraft and cargo carriers. The increase in range enables us to operate from fewer bases located farther from a war zone.

Air Force tankers today are also being used in roles beyond simply air refueling. There is no longer a dedicated aerial ambulance and so a "kit" is rolled on to a tanker when needed and they fly away with an appropriate medical team on board.

Close-to-scene combat wounded are loaded and taken rapidly to where adequate medical aid is available currently in Germany or even back to the United States. Mainly that is a guard or reserve mission and illustrates the flexibility of the tanker force.

Again wherever a human disaster occurs anywhere in the world we find U.S. Air Forces assisting, assets that many times were aided in getting there by fuel from a tanker or even with the tanker itself appearing on the scene.

This year is the year of the tanker in that buying a new set is a top Air Force priority. Hopefully John and my little presentation will in some way help that procurement process come to fruition. "Fueling the Fight"!

That is the way I saw it.