Team Lajes offloads fuel for the fight Published April 19, 2007 By Staff Sgt. Marcus McDonald 65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs PRAIA DA VITORIA, Terceira, Azores, Portugal -- Within a span of 28 hours, Team Lajes members offloaded 12.2 million gallons of JP-8 jet fuel from a tanker ship last week at the military port here. Lt. Col. Robert Hoff, 65th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander, said the refueling operation was about force projection. "This JP-8 will be used to refuel all U.S. and foreign military and commercial aircraft transiting the island," he said. "Aircraft come to Lajes for fuel. LRS and the 65th Air Base Wing provide that capability." Master Sgt. Steven Guajardo, 65th LRS Fuels Operations superintendent, said Lajes was prepared to receive and distribute the jet fuel. "From the fire department who prepared the pier's fire-fighting systems and liquid fuels maintenance personnel that were ready to make repairs and modify fuel system components to the POL troops who prepared an 18-inch cross-country pipeline and two 10-million gallon bulk fuel storage tanks, Lajes was ready," he said. After customs cleared the tanker, fuels laboratory personnel boarded the High Century to collect fuel samples from 14 of the ship's cargo tanks. Following a rigid quality analysis, laboratory personnel cleared the fuel for offload. South Tank Farm personnel then notified the vessel to start pumping. "After a 10-minute initial low-flow pump-rate to ensure no leaks or pipeline configuration problems, the High Century sent JP-8 to the South Tank Farm at an incredible 7,300 gallons per minute," Sergeant Guajardo said. "In just 28 hours, the entire 12.2 million-gallon load of JP-8 was safely relocated from a T-5 coastal tanker to Lajes' shore tanks." Lajes' 65 million-gallon capacity tank farm is the U.S. Air Forces in Europe's largest and U.S. Air Force's second largest behind Andersen Air Base, Guam.