Grissom tanker helps keep aircraft in the fight at Red Flag-Alaska Published July 25, 2007 By Staff Sgt. Shawn J. Jones Red Flag-Alaska Public Affairs EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- A KC-135R Stratotanker from Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind., helped patrol the Last Frontier to provided in-flight refueling to aircraft in need and to keep fighter aircraft participating in Red Flag-Alaska focused on the fight. Red Flag-Alaska is a multinational exercise that provides realistic combat training in a safe and controlled setting over the Pacific Alaskan Range Complex and Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Grissom personnel flew aerial refueling missions during the first week of the exercise. Throughout the course of Red Flag Alaska, American and Turkish KC-135 Stratotanker crews, including those from Grissom ARB, provided in-air refueling to aircraft from America, Japan, Spain and Turkey. Without topping off at these gas stations in the clouds, the contingent of multinational fighter aircraft would only average 60 to 90 minutes of flight time. "The sky is like a big pie and we happen to be a piece that is instrumental in accomplishing the mission," said Master Sgt. Scott Ward of the 434th ARW. "It doesn't matter that Red Flag is an exercise, our job is be in the right place at the right time and provide fuel. By practicing these situations, we can successfully do the mission in peace or wartime scenarios. " Red Flag-Alaska's training scenarios require fighter aircraft to perform extended missions for durations that exceeds the standard fuel capacity. The practice of airborne refueling, where an aircraft positions its nose just under a refueling boom that extends from the back of a KC-135, requires good communication skills and patience, said Tech. Sgt. Paul Sherrod, an in-flight refueling technician, with the 434th ARW. KC-135 boom operators lie belly-down with their head toward the rear of the aircraft. As fighter aircraft position themselves, the boom operator uses a control stick to maneuver the refueling boom into the fuel receptacle of the aircraft. "I've got to be able to communicate under stressful conditions," Sergeant Sherrord said. "Pilots don't have rearview mirrors." More than 80 aircraft and 1,500 servicemembers from six countries are participating in the exercise which continues through July 28.
