Fuels: Heartbeat of Joint Base

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jack Sanders
  • JBER PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON --  If you tour the 3rd Logistics Readiness Squadron's Fuels Management Flight on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson there may not be a tell tale, thump, thump of a heartbeat heard in the halls. However, the flight still retains its designation as the heartbeat of the installation.

Fuel is used in cars, planes and other motorized equipment, but how and where the large amount of fuel the joint base uses gets to where it's needed is hidden right in plain sight.

"Most people see the large green fuel trucks driving down the road or on the flightline and think that's all we do," said Master Sergeant James Risley, 3rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, section chief, fuels operations. "Yes, we drive the fuel trucks to the flightline, but that's just one small portion of the job we do here."

In order to keep up with demands, the Fuels Management Flight doesn't work normal nine to five jobs that many people become accustomed to.

"We're a 24/7 operation," Sergeant Risley said. "(In that sense) we're kind of like mailmen. Whether there's rain, snow, sleet, wind, or earthquakes we're still out there pumping and delivering fuel."

Being a JBER Fuels team member is not only challenging, but also provides a large training benefit to the many new fuel specialists stationed here, Sergeant Risley said.

"It gets pretty hectic here, especially when we have exercises like Red Flag (Alaska)," said Senior Airman William Glover, 3rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, fuels distribution operator. "It's busy, but it's fun. I like being out there on the line and getting stuff knocked out. I love being able to deal with the F-22s. It's just fun."

Fuels team members, like Airman Glover, can be found anywhere on base refueling any number of different aircraft.

"At most other bases you can see one to two airframes at one location," Sergeant Risley said. "Here you could see 22 airframes on any one given day. From C-12s to UC-35s, C-17s, F- 22s, F-15s and even F-16s from Eielson (AFB). Just about every fighter aircraft you ever want to talk about lands here at Elmendorf at one time or another. Going back in the past, I've gassed SU29s, SU24s, and 174 Russian aircraft," he said.

Fueling Aircraft is the primary mission of the Fuels team, but there are many more tasks they're responsible for. From manning their dispatch center, to sending fuel from storage tanks to locations where it can be pumped, the Fuels team has their hands in almost every aspect of JBER.

"We also support the ground mission here at Elmendorf," Sergeant Risley said. "We've got motor gasoline, diesel, and JP-8 that we provide through four service stations and a compressed natural gas station here on the south side of base ... '

We deal in consumables also, which are liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen and we deal in de-icer for wintertime operations for the flightline folks to de-ice aircraft and runways," said the Sergeant.

According to Sergeant Risley, liquid oxygen is known as aviator breather's oxygen.
"Primarily our customers (for liquid oxygen) are the C-17s. When those guys fly to altitudes above 10,000 feet they need 99.5 percent oxygen in order to be able to breathe above 10,000 feet without the fuselage of the aircraft being pressurized," Sergeant Risley said.

The Fuels team also sends liquid oxygen and nitrogen to the hospital where it has different medical uses.

One of the many unique things about the Fuels team is that all the fuel they use has to be preapproved by their own personal laboratory. The laboratory tests for the quality of all fuel delivered to the base, which must meet several strict standards before being available for use.

Whether they're running hot pits, where aircraft land and are refueled with the engine running before another take-off, or transporting liquid oxygen to the hospital, the Fuels team is always keeping the heart of the base pumping, Sergeant Risley said.

"I think we're ahead of the curve here," said Airman 1st Class Tou Yang, 3rd LRS, fuels distribution operator. "With Red Flag (Alaska) it does get pretty busy, but with hot pits and everything else we do here, I'm pretty sure when I go to another base it'll be more relaxed after all the training I've gotten here."