The Star-Ledger January 14, 2003
Fueled for flight, ready to fight
Jersey's 108th Air National Guard wing keeps its flying gas stations primed for battle
BY WAYNE WOOLLEY
Star-Ledger Staff
Less than an hour after takeoff from McGuire Air Force Base, a pair of dark gray KC-135 Stratotankers reached their destination and were now circling in a lazy oval 24,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean in the spot military air traffic controllers call Whiskey 105.
Six dots appeared on the horizon and within seconds became recognizable as F-15 fighter jets as they zoomed in at 500 mph and lined up three apiece behind each New Jersey Air National Guard refueler.
One by one, the fighters hooked up to a boom in the tail of the KC-135s, pulling away after the 300-gallon-a-minute rush of fuel filled their tank.
The refueling training mission last week was one of thousands the 108th Air Refueling Wing has made since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Other missions have sent members of the New Jersey-based unit over Indiana to refuel Afghanistan-bound B-2 stealth bombers and to the Middle East for missions in support of the war on terror and to Iraq's northern no-fly zone.
And if the United States finds itself at war with Iraq, members of the 108th Air Refueling Wing expect to be involved.
"If something happens over there, I'm sure there will be a need for tankers," said Col. Bill Maiorano, the refueling wing's vice commander.
Maiorano, 49, said it wouldn't be unexpected if some members of the 1,350-member wing flew missions from McGuire Air Base and others were sent to the Middle East.
"If you want to lay odds, it's a good bet we'll be doing both," he said.
The unit is in demand because of its size. While most Air Guard refueling wings have 10 planes, the 108th is one of three "supertanker" wings, which boast 20 planes. The other supertanker wings are based in Rickenbacker, Ohio, and Pittsburgh.
The McGuire-based planes, built in the late 1950s, are old by Air Force standards, but they remain reliable.
The 13-story-long jets are essentially Boeing 707s with massive tanks in the plane's belly that are capable of holding 180,000 pounds of fuel.
While no New Jersey-based Guard or Reserve units have been mobilized as part of the massive U.S. military buildup taking place now in the Persian Gulf, military analysts predict future action for Air Guard and Air Reserve refueling units around the country.
"I would say those units are going to get big play ... especially those involved in refueling," said military analyst Patrick Garrett of Globalsecurity.org. "The Air Force really does put those guys to work."
The Air Force already has made plenty of work for the 108th Air Refueling Wing.
Nearly 1,000 members have been deployed for at least one mission since the terrorist attacks, said Col. S. Craig Widen, the unit's commander.
And not all of the assignments have involved flying refueling missions. Members of the unit's Security Forces were among the first deployed to Afghanistan and helped seize an air base near Kandahar, Widen said. More than 110 of the unit's Security Forces remain on active duty, deployed around the world.
Pilots and crew from the 108th also experienced combat conditions during refueling missions over Afghanistan.
"We were up there and the whole war was going on underneath us," said Master Sgt. Paul Matlack, an Air Guard member since 1969. "Even during the missions we flew over Northern Iraq, it was nothing like that."
Matlack, 52, of Groveville, Mercer County, said he's prepared for any mission that comes his way.
"My family knows that if something happens, we've got to go," he said. "But nobody knows, at this point, where we'd go."
In the meantime, many of the 108th's missions will be closer to home, like the rendezvous with the F-15s over Whiskey 105.
That mission, 80 miles off the New Jersey coast, was to refuel fighter jets from the 102nd Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. That unit and members of the Pomona-based 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard have been flying combat air patrols along the Boston-to-Washington, D.C., coast since 9/11.
As the F-15s approached the KC-135s last week, the boom operator, Staff Sgt. Pat, a two-year Guard veteran who for security reasons only wanted to be identified by his rank and first name, activated a series of lights on the plane's belly to direct the fighter pilot to pull up to the refueling nozzle.
With each connection, he says "contact" to let the F-15 pilot know he's reached the spot. When the connection is made, a light flashes in the KC-135's cockpit and the co-pilot begins the flow of fuel. The fuel automatically turns off when the F-15's tank is full.
The mission goes smoothly. Like Staff Sgt. Pat, all of the F-15 pilots have done this many times before.
But in bad weather, or when dealing with inexperienced pilots, Staff Sgt. Pat said he's got to be the reassuring voice on the radio for the pilot.
"Things can get dicey ... you have to settle them down" he said. "You try not to give them too many instructions, keep it to saying something like 'You're a little too high.' You have to be real calm."
Staff Sgt. Pat can empathize with the pilots he refuels. In civilian life, he flies commercial regional jets. "I guess you could say I know both ends of the aircraft," he said.
Maj. Mark Maldonado, a pilot with the 108th Air Refueling Wing, with more than 13 years' experience both on active duty and as a member of the Guard unit, said the unit's strength is the experience of the pilot.
"In the Guard, you'll find some of the best pilots in the Air Force," he said.
Wayne Woolley covers military affairs. He can be reached at wwoolley@starledger.com or (908) 527-4012.
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