Airmen reload successfully at Lajes to fuel the fight

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Olufemi Owolabi
  • 65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAJES FIELD, Azores --- --  A shortage of fuel at Lajes could cause a significant "hiccup" in the Air Force mission when members at Lajes Field and aircraft attempt to transit across the Atlantic, hoping to "gas" up, but are not able to refuel.

To ensure there is no delay in the refueling mission and to guarantee supply of unleaded gas at Lajes, the 65th Logistics Readiness Squadron's Fuels Management Flight geared up to ensure the safe offload of an oil vessel that docked at the Praia Harbor to deliver fuel Nov. 17.

Expectations were high Wednesday afternoon before the delivery, especially since this event only occurs twice a year at Lajes. However, the leadership of the fuels management flight expects nothing but a successful download of more than 200,000 gallons of fuel to restock the base reservoir.

Members of the 65 LRS Fuels Management Flight consider the offload operation another vital part of the Air Force mission, and they take it to heart to ensure its execution is successful.

To the team of 70 fuels Airmen and their Portuguese partners, the operation, which is worth about $7 million, is serious business.

"Today's operation is an offload of the ground product fuel which is used to provide unleaded gas to Lajes' Exchange service station so that fuel could be available for all Americans stationed here at Lajes," said Master Sgt. Gregory McDonald, 65th LRS Fuels Management Flight superintendent. "We also take care of our military service station, which provides fuel for all government vehicles."

Just before the gas was offloaded, Airmen from the Fuels Laboratory Unit took a sample directly from the oil tanker for inspection and ran an analysis to ensure compliance with the government speculations and standards. They checked for clarity when doing a visual sampling, and according to the requirements in their technical order, they ensured that the samples met the settlement-limit standards.

"I am the response officer for all the fuel on base, and I don't take that (responsibility) lightly," Sergeant McDonald said. "I have to account for every drop of fuel that we have in our tanks."

Lajes fuels team and other emergency units were also on standby to ensure the operation went smoothly. While a boom was set by the Lajes fuel-spill response team, just in case there was a spillage, the 65th Civil Engineer Squadron's firefighters were also at the scene to contain any emergency incident.

The operation took about eight hours and overnight to complete.

After the flight superintendent made sure everything was in order and the operation was in full swing, he delegated the next shift to J.R. Weddle, terminal manager heading a five-member team of contractors.

"The operation began at 7 p.m., and we wrapped up in the morning," said Mr. Weddle. "It was deemed a smooth and successful operation, and there was no incident at all."

"We've done quite a bit of this offload before and the contractors, being at Lajes for almost three years, have received several tankers before, and they know what they are doing," added Sergeant McDonald.

The sergeant expressed his full confidence about the success of the operation when he said, "I know it's going to go smoothly." And everything did.

Sergeant McDonald credited the success to teamwork and great communication between the fuels Airmen and their Portuguese counterparts.

The personnel in the fuels management flight work together to "fuel the fight" and the base, said Sergeant McDonald.

They take care of every aircraft coming through here, whether they are foreign partners, NATO nations or other U.S. military in transit to the area of responsibility or going to the continental United States.

With the refilled Lajes fuel reservoir totaling more than 6 million gallons, every member, transiting or stationed at Lajes, can rest assured that the fuel and gas-service stations at Lajes will not suffer any shortage that could put a glitch on the mission.