Lessons From Beneath: Adaptive Scuba Diving Becomes Important Outlet for Wounded Warriors

LESSONS FROM BENEATH

Adaptive scuba diving becomes important outlet for wounded warriors

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON

24 November 2014

A Wounded Warrior participate in a scuba diving class at Spring Lake in San Marcos, Texas. The Center for the Intrepid provides rehabilitation for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans who have sustained amputation, burns, or functional limb loss. (Courtesy photo/George Cummings)

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Even though the retired staff sergeant was interested in adaptive scuba diving, one obstacle was in the way, and it wasn’t his amputated right leg. Keith Morlan was terrified of drowning.
This phobia, which pre-dated both his motorcycle accident in 2007 and further injuries during a deployment to Afghanistan, made Morlan skeptical when he was introduced to adaptive scuba diving while undergoing rehabilitation at the Center for the Intrepid, part of the San Antonio Military Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Keith Morlan packs up his scuba gear after participating in a scuba diving class at Spring Lake in San Marcos, Texas. The Center for the Intrepid provides rehabilitation for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom casualties who have sustained amputation, burns, or functional limb loss, and provides education to DoD and Department of Veteran’s Affairs professionals on cutting edge rehabilitation modalities, and to promote research in the fields of Orthopedics, prosthetics, physical and occupational rehabilitation. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Staff Sgt. Jonathan Snyder)

“When I was first introduced to scuba diving, I had my nervousness because of my phobia about drowning,” said Morlan, who medically retired from his Air Force cable antenna maintenance career in 2011. “But my therapist told me about how we would sit in the classroom and talk about how we were going to scuba dive, the equipment we wear, and the warning signs if we were to expect any trouble. I think for a lot of us in the class who all had surgery for our amputations, life as we knew it had changed forever, but I think this gave us a sense that we were not the only ones going through what we were going through. We could actually do a lot more than we thought we could do.”
In Spring Lake, located at the headwaters of the San Marcos River in south central Texas, as well as in the Gulf of Mexico during a trip to Panama City Beach, Fla., the following week, the wounded warrior divers discovered a sense of self-confidence and awareness that can sometimes be difficult to find in activities on the surface. In the water, it mattered so little that they were missing a limb that all six divers left their prosthetic arms and legs on the dock.

A prosthetic leg and wheelchair sit on the dock while Wounded Warriors participate in a scuba diving class at Spring Lake in San Marcos, Texas. The Center for the Intrepid provides rehabilitation for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans, and education to DoD and Department of Veteran’s Affairs professionals on cutting edge rehabilitation modalities to promote research in the fields of Orthopedics, prosthetics, physical and occupational rehabilitation. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Cory Payne)

“I don’t believe today we have anybody who’s using a prosthetic underwater,” said Mark Heniser, a Center for the Intrepid physical therapist. “We have done that in the past, and we can adapt to that. But for the most part, they do far better by leaving their arm or leg on the dock and just learn how to swim with one arm or leg. They can control their buoyancy better. The bottom line is an artificial limb, even if it’s an aid on the surface, is an anchor under water.”
The program is a partnership with Duggan Diving in nearby Universal City, Texas, and also sponsored by the Air Warriors Foundation and a local organization called Red River Rats, along with The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos.
The divers receive four nights of classroom instruction, followed by three nights of diving in the base swimming pool and four dives in two days in open water at Spring Lake, part of The Meadows’ management plan. The divers who made their certification dive practiced donning and taking off their masks, rescuing a diver in distress and an unconscious diver, fixing gear underwater, and navigation with a compass, both on the surface and beneath.

A Wounded Warrior participates in a scuba diving class at Spring Lake in San Marcos, Texas. The dive in the clear waters of Spring Lake was the culmination of the veterans’ National Association for Underwater Instructors adaptive scuba diving certification through the Center for the Intrepid. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Cory Payne)

The dive in the clear waters of Spring Lake was the culmination of the veterans’ National Association for Underwater Instructors adaptive scuba diving certification through the Center for the Intrepid. The center has taught scuba diving to more than 600 wounded and injured service members since the program’s inception in 2005, Heniser said.
“Adaptive scuba diving really gives these guys a true sense of accomplishment and self-confidence, in that they can do this sport, and scuba is a sport, as well as any able-bodied person,” Heniser said. “What we actually do is we put them through a regular scuba program and then help them to adapt.
“But for me, personally, it’s become very gratifying over the years to see some of these guys I may see in their beds two or three days after they were injured,” he said. “Then, over the course of several months, I see them learn to walk and run, we get them into the pool for the first time without their limbs, and then they progress to something like scuba. It’s almost like seeing someone in your family grow. It is even more gratifying to be contacted three or four years later by someone thanking me or our organization for getting them started because they’ve just been on a scuba trip with their wives in Florida, Hawaii or the Caribbean because this is one sport they can do throughout their lives.”

Wounded Warriors takes a group photo before starting a scuba diving class at Spring Lake in San Marcos, Texas. The Center for the Intrepid is in partnership with Duggan Diving in nearby Universal City, Texas, and sponsored by the Air Warriors Foundation and a local organization called Red River Rats, along with The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos.(U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Cory Payne)

Since his introduction to adaptive scuba diving, Morlan still has his phobia of the water, but like his recovery from injury, he’s learned to adapt. He has added whitewater kayaking to adaptive scuba.
“I haven’t overcome my fear of drowning, but I have become a lot more relaxed around the water,” Morlan said. “I don’t think you really know what you can do unless you try it. With scuba diving, you obviously have the air tanks, but it’s allowed me to be able to interact more with the water.
“Under the water, once you can clear your ears and the pressure goes away, you feel the tranquility of hearing the ocean water because all you hear are the bubbles coming out of the respirator. It’s soothing that you just get to hang out and be relaxed in the water. After learning different kicks and different styles, I was really surprised I was able to overcome my fear and enjoy it because I was able to maneuver around as if I had no disability at all.”

Wounded Warriors participate in a scuba diving class at Spring Lake in San Marcos, Texas. The Center for the Intrepid’s mission is the collaboration of a multi-disciplinary team, providing state-of-the-art amputee care and assisting patients as they return to the highest levels of physical, psychological and emotional function. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jonathan Snyder)

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Making Airmen: MTI pushes trainees through eight weeks of basic training

The blue, round-brimmed hat of the 6-foot-3 military training instructor towers over the unfortunate young trainee who attracted its wearer’s attention. The eyes of the future Airmen on the trainee’s left and right widen as they stand at attention, relieved they aren’t on the receiving end of this specific example of what the MTI calls “the shock and awe effect.”
“Don’t shake your head at the position of attention, trainee,” Tech. Sgt. Chananyah S. Stuart corrects in his distinct Virgin Islands’ accent. “You will pay attention to me, whether you want to or not. You will pay attention to everything I say and everything I’m going to do.”
Later, one of the witnesses of the flight’s first encounter with its MTI, Trainee Charles Stackhouse expressed feelings of apprehension about what Stuart would be like as an instructor.“My first impression of Tech. Sgt. Stuart was a little scary,” said Stackhouse, who would eventually become the flight’s element leader. “I wasn’t exactly intimidated, but it was different from anything I’d ever experienced, and I was definitely nervous.”
Tech. Sgt. Chananyah Stuart reminds a trainee of the procedures for entering the dining facility. Stuart, a 323rd Training Squadron military training instructor, is extra demanding on his trainees from the very beginning because he believes it sets them up for success.
Little do the members of the 323rd Training Squadron’s Flight 552 realize how their impressions of their MTI will change throughout the eight-and-a-half weeks of basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. By the mid-point of their training, Stackhouse, dorm chief Justin Parker, and others will not only adopt some of their MTI’s favorite sayings like “speed and intensity,” but also his marching cadence, complete with his accent on certain syllables. Flight 552 forms for the first time at about 1 a.m. outside the base’s new BMT Reception Center, located a conveniently short march across the drill pad to the squadron. Stuart is joined by five other MTIs to help “motivate” the flight as he marched them to their home for the next few months.“We will do everything quick, fast and in a hurry,” Stuart tells his new flight. The trainees will soon learn that everything their MTI tells them will include those same three ingredients. The trainees’ night of shock and awe continues as they are introduced to their dormitory. Stuart has a lot of information to give the trainees and only an hour and a half before 2:30 a.m., when they need to be in their bunks with lights out.“Face your wall lockers right now,” he tells them. “Yell out that number. Find the number on your bed right now. Find your security drawer right now.”Later, Stuart gives the 52 trainees one of the biggest lessons they will learn during “zero week,” when he shows them around their dorm. Tech. Sgt. Chananyah Stuart inspects his flight’s dorm after a surprise inspection produced several discrepancies. Flight 552 is in their final week of training, and Stuart, a military training instructor, uses the inspections to fight complacency amongst the trainees. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)“This is no longer called a bathroom,” Stuart says. “It is the latrine. You are not at home anymore.”The Flight 552 trainees might have been surprised to learn their MTI has not always been comfortable with raising his voice. Stuart learned his MTI package was approved while en route to a deployment in Afghanistan in 2011. The generally soft-spoken civil engineer NCO trained his voice to become accustomed to yelling by the time he reported for MTI duty in June 2012. Stuart’s fellow MTIs have taken notice of the ease with which he transforms from an easygoing gentleman to get into a trainee’s face at the slightest drop in military bearing.“He will be smiling at you one minute, then his face turns to stone like a light switch,” said Staff Sgt. Dennis Weiss, as he watched Stuart counsel a trainee from the “Snake Pit,” the dreaded table where the instructors sit in the dining facility. “All you see is this instant change of face.”Military training instructor, Master Sgt. Julio Alarcon, asks a basic military trainee why he can’t deliver a proper military reporting statement. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen) Stuart is always wearing the stern face when he teaches drill, how to give a reporting statement, the wearing of the uniform, and making dust cover beds because he considers all four indicators of the flight’s progress, as well as for individual trainees.“The beds are the meat and potatoes of the dorm,” Stuart said. “If the beds look good, you know it will be an outstanding flight. If not, you can tell the flight doesn’t have that pride. So you have to be sure you give them that good info.”MTIs must also keep vital flight information accessible at all times. Like all MTIs at Lackland, Stuart must carry a flight notebook whenever he leads a flight. The notebook includes the weekly schedule, flight roster, appointment slips and the white armband roster, which identifies any trainees who are especially susceptible to the heat. Inside Stuart’s hat is a heat chart that tells him what he’s allowed to do with the trainees under conditions that put the squadron under red or black flag. His own water bottle is in one hand or nearby any time he’s outside under the late-summer San Antonio sun. Despite the heat, both from the Texas summer and from their instructor,the flightsurvived zero week, and moved on to the first full week of training, which consists of M-16 weapon identification, breakdown and assembly; maintaining the trainees’ personal living areas and Stuart’s favorite – marching and drill.“Let’s go! You are way too slow for my taste right now,” he yells at one trainee before pulling him out of formation for more intensive drill intervention. Military training instructor, Tech. Sgt. Chananyah Stuart, leads Flight 552 on the “Airman’s Run” in the basic military training reception center auditorium. Stuart keeps his flight in step by calling cadence with his fingers because the noise made by cheering parents and family members make it difficult for trainees to hear him. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)“We see everything,” Stuart tells the trainee. “If we see something and don’t say anything, it’s probably just because we have given up on that trainee. But we see everything.”Toward the end of the first full week, there is a subtle change in how the instructor barks out orders. He begins to let them in on the reasoning behind the madness, as when he checks to make sure everyone’s buttons are fastened on their Airman battle uniform.“I want to see if you are paying attention to detail,” Stuart tells his flight. “Why? Because many of you will be working on aircraft. If you can’t put that one screw where it’s supposed to go, millions of dollars and some lives go down the drain. This is why we do everything we do, so you can pay attention to detail.” “Right now, they are starting to see the big picture,” Stuart said later. “Because everything we do right now, we relate to the big picture of the operational Air Force.”In the second week of training, as the flight begins classes to prepare for the Basic Expeditionary Airmen Skills Training, which occurs in week six, drill training makes major strides. Stuart teaches marching concepts, such as left and right step, columns left and right, formation of the flight, rest positions, how to count off, and other essential drill concepts. The trainees are also becoming proficient in making their beds the way he taught them, along with their dorm details.“Good to hook?” Stuart asks the flight after teaching them columns left and right, his way of checking for comprehension. Another time, he concludes a correction with, “It’s common sense,” spreading his arms wide to emphasize the point. During week three, trainees receive their name tags and tapes, dog tags and their common access cards, which are kept with their paperwork until they leave BMT. Stuart also teaches them about their military pay. Other than a few infractions, for the most part, Stuart is pleased with the flight’s progress. He can hear the confidence in how they are snapping off their reporting statements.“Every time you do something well that we tell you to do, you’re getting closer to becoming Airmen,” he tells them. Tech. Sgt. Chananyah Stuart, a military training instructor, stands in front of his flight before beginning physical training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. The flight is in its eighth and final week of Air Force basic military training. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen) By week four, Stuart has the flight moving on to what he likes to call “cruise control.” He no longer has to tell them everything, because they have become self-sufficient in many ways. When a trainee does step out of line, the flight’s leaders often correct the problem without Stuart getting involved.“We use (cruise control) because it’s like having a vehicle training itself,” Stuart said. “It’s like being on auto-pilot and having an airplane go up into the sky, and as soon as it gets into the sky, it begins to fly itself.”The trainees test their endurance, strength and willpower on the obstacle course. They also learn team-building as they cheer each other on as they overcome each of the 20 obstacles. In week five, the trainees have their flight and individual photos taken, and Stuart stresses proper hydration and foot care. He begins pre-deployment preparation for the BEAST the following week, making sure every trainee has items needed from the BEAST Deployment Packing List. He leads the flight in a bag drag, a quick inspection of items needed to take to the BEAST. Once at the BEAST, when trainees get the opportunity to apply what they have learned in a deployed, war-time environment, the flight shows signs of what their MTI taught them through the first four weeks of training. The BEAST includes a weapons familiarization course; firing on the combat arms training and maintenance range; self-aid and buddy care scenarios; training to fight combatives with pugil sticks; and the Creating Leaders, Airmen and Warriors mission, which recently replaced the obstacle course. On the new course, the objectives are considered checkpoints rather than obstacles. The night before the culminating exercise at the end of BEAST week, Stackhouse and Parker enjoy the chance to focus on just being trainees without the burden of leadership duties.“We made a lot of mistakes in the first exercise, and it gradually got better,” Parker said. “All we could do was pinpoint those things we were still having trouble with and work on them.”At the end of week six, members of Flight 552 and several other flights in Sentinel, their living area zone, captures the BEAST Excellence Award by earning the fewest demerits in the culminating exercise. The award gives the flight 10 points toward becoming honor flight. A week later, Stuart learns the flight has won honor flight, making Flight 552 the top flight of all those graduating BMT that week. Honor flights traditionally receive an extra town pass during graduation week. Military training instructor, Tech. Sgt. Chananyah Stuart, inspects Flight 552′s guidon bearer, Airman Calvin Kim, before the graduation ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)“Tech. Sgt. Stuart represents the very best aspects of our United States Air Force and the exceptional basic military training instructors assigned to the 37th Training Wing,” said. Col. Trent H. Edwards, the 37th TRW commander. “I am proud, not only of his individual leadership accomplishment, but the accomplishments of the members of Flight 552 for the team effort it took to be recognized as the honor flight.”In week seven, Stuart has his trainees complete their first Joint Hometown News Program release, and they take their written tests and complete their final evaluations in drill and physical fitness. In their final week, they see downtown San Antonio for the first time in two months, since they left the airport for the 30-minute bus ride to BMT. Once they receive their Airman’s coins at the Airman Coin and Retreat Ceremony, they can finally be called Airmen, and their big week concludes with their parade and graduation ceremony. Even though the flight took top honors, both at BEAST and in being named honor flight, Stuart’s impact was perhaps best illustrated in how the Flight 552 trainees adopted certain aspects of their instructor’s personality and teachings. Once, another MTI said he heard Stuart’s distinctive voice leading the flight in drill in the squadron atrium, or so he thought. The voice actually belonged to Parker, the flight’s dorm chief. As the trainees took on many of Stuart’s words, they also developed a deep respect, as their instructor knew they would from that first night’s march across the parade field.
“In the beginning, Tech. Sgt. Stuart was the only MTI I’d ever known, so I figured they were all like him,” Stackhouse said.. “Then, as the weeks progressed, I realized that he is actually, if not the best, one of the best MTIs out there, just from hearing other MTIs and flights talking about him and holding him in such high regard. It just makes me feel blessed to have been trained by him.”
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D-Day Stories: Veteran Still Loves Sharing Memories of His Combat Missions During World War II.

D-DAY STORIES

Veteran still loves sharing memories of his combat missions during World War II.

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON / PHOTOS BY MASTER SGT. JEFFREY ALLEN

28 October 2014

“This is the one that’s going to get Hitler,” was the hopeful refrain of World War II bomber pilots like Fred Taylor, as they dropped their bombs during the D-Day invasion 12,000 feet above Normandy, France.

Fred Taylor, a 96-year-old former bomber pilot, flew two of his 31 combat missions on the June 6, 1944 invasion in the B-17 Flying Fortress called “Patchess.” Taylor now resides in Cazenovia, N.Y.. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen

These days, the 96-year-old Taylor can’t get around as well as he used to because of his health. He mostly listens to tapes, radio and TV and sits in his wife’s garden in their Cazenovia, N.Y., home. But he also loves to talk about yesterday.
Yesterday for Taylor means stories about how he went from wanting to travel and see the country to being a bomber pilot during the biggest seaborne invasion in military history. Taylor flew two of his 31 combat missions on the June 6, 1944 invasion in the B-17 Flying Fortress called “Patches,” a nickname inspired by the square patches that covered more than 400 bullet holes the plane’s exterior sustained from anti-aircraft fire.
“There were 434 or 414 bullet holes, depending on who was counting that day,” Taylor said.
Taylor may not see or hear well anymore, but his memory remains practically as clear as it was during his younger days.
“When he retired (in 1989), he loved to build our houses,” Taylor’s wife Wendy said. “He rebuilt our house here, and he rebuilt our camp in the Adirondacks. If you’re asking what he can do now, it’s taking it easy. But he does love to remember the past and talk about the war.”
Before Taylor joined the military, he left the University of Pennsylvania to hitchhike and ride freight trains in his quest to make it across the country. When he got to the West Coast, he worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps in Seattle for two months before his mother wrote a letter to get him out, so he could return their home in Watertown, N.Y.

After completing his initial training in the National Guard, Fred Taylor, transferred to the Air National Guard in 1942 and completed all three phases of pilot training before he joined the 379th Bombardment Group at Royal Air Force Station Kimbolton near Bedford, England. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen

A few months later, Taylor joined the National Guard and was assigned to the 7th Regiment and sent to Camp Stewart, Ga., for training. He transferred to the Air National Guard in 1942 and completed all three phases of pilot training before he joined the 379th Bombardment Group at Royal Air Force Station Kimbolton near Bedford, England.
Taylor’s B-17 and other aircraft were distinguished by a triangle K on the tail. All B-17s in the 1st Bombardment Division had large triangles on the top of the aircraft’s vertical stabilizer, and each group’s assigned code letter was painted inside the triangle. The 379th’s letter was the letter K.
The group attacked strategic targets such as industries, oil refineries, airfields and communications centers in Germany, Belgium, France, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands. By D-Day, Taylor had already flown a dozen missions.
A colonel called in the aircrews at 1 a.m. for briefings and informed them that the invasion day had finally arrived after a couple of weather-related postponements. They would invade the Cherbourg Peninsula that morning. Taylor’s first mission was at 7 a.m. Before takeoff, a ground crew of four men told him they wanted to go up with him.
“Get a parachute, and get in the airplane,” he told them.
“I thought, ‘Let them have an opportunity to see what goes on,’” Taylor said. “I wasn’t supposed to do it, of course, but I got away with it.”
So many Allied planes filled the skies above the peninsula on D-Day that Taylor remembers his two missions as among his easiest. Any German pilots who were able to get off the ground were destined for a bad day.
“You look down at the English Channel, and it looked like Times Square,” Taylor said. “It was unbelievable how many ships there were in that English Channel. There were thousands of ships – destroyers, battleships, aircraft carriers, transports and supply ships, and there were so many airplanes in the air that I felt sorry for the Germans. They got some fighter planes up, but it took one helluva brave pilot to go up against the American and British air forces because we had so many fighter planes in the air. He was bound to get shot down.”
Taylor flew his second mission at 4 that afternoon, but faced little opposition by then, as Allied soldiers had already secured the beaches.

World War II veteran bomber pilot, Fred Taylor, still has the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal he was awarded for missions flown during the D-Day invasion over Normandy, France. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen

“The American and British armies had already secured the Cherbourg Peninsula, and Germany was on her way out,” Taylor said.
When his tour ended, Taylor returned stateside to train for missions over Japan, but the war ended first. After the war, Patches, with her 400-plus bullet holes, was scrapped for her parts, and Taylor returned to New York to farm turkeys. He had up to 5,000 turkeys at one time on his 172 acres, with a feed bill that reached between $70,000 to $75,000 a year. He also kept the local post office busy with his mail-order gift business.
“I made a first-class post office out of the Cazenovia post office with the amount of postage I used,” he said.
He farmed turkeys for 13 years before working as a grocer brokerage salesman, selling forklift trucks and as a co-partner in a manufacturing sales company before he retired in 1989.
During his 31 missions in Europe, Taylor caught flak a couple of times, including once when his co-pilot got hit in the top of the two helmets he wore. Another time, Patches got knocked out of formation, and Taylor was flying as a co-pilot so he could break in a new pilot.
“‘We’re going to hit the deck!’” Taylor said the pilot yelled. “I said, ‘You damn fool! You want some kid with a .22 to shoot you down? We stay right here at 17,000 feet and follow those thousands of airplanes,” which were also on the same mission.
Today, Taylor still keeps the piece of flak that came through Patches’ dashboard and penetrated his flak vest on one of his missions. His eyes and ears may have betrayed him in his later years, but his mind remains sharp. He loves those occasions when he can tell visitors about Patches and his role in one of the most historic days in American and world history.

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Addition By Subtraction: Choosing amputation later helps some wounded warriors gain independence

While serving in the Air Force, Daniel Crane injured his right arm which caused nerve damage leading to a complete loss of function. Prior to heading to the Invictus Games he chose to receive an amputation. Crane participated in multiple events in London, including Archery, Athletics and Swimming. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee)

An off-duty shooting two years ago took away three things in retired Staff Sgt. Daniel Crane’s life that he enjoyed. Gone was the former quarterback’s ability to throw a football. Gone, also, was his shooting capability, at least at the proficiency he was accustomed. Even his career as an active-duty security forces Airman seemed to be lost forever.
On July 28, 2012, Crane was shot in his vehicle by an anti-U.S. forces national while stationed at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The bullet struck Crane’s brachial artery and severed nerves in his right arm, requiring eight surgeries. The use of his forearm and hand never returned.
But as Crane reached the two-year anniversary of the shooting, he was perhaps busier than he was before his injury. Less than a month before the anniversary he calls his “alive day,” Crane had an elective trans-radial amputation that took the right arm to 4 inches above his wrist. He has now resumed his CrossFit workout while training for five sports in the inaugural Invictus Games, an international competition for wounded servicemembers, in London.

Daniel Crane competes in a 100m Men’s Ambulant IT3 race during the 2014 London Invictus Games at the Lee Valley Athletic Centre, England, Sept 11, 2014. Servicemen and women participating in the inaugural Invictus Games are those who have overcome adversity in every sense of the word. Be it either wounded, ill, or injured, these warriors have found themselves an invitation to compete in the games and represent their country, service, and comrades. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Justyn M. Freeman)

“I never would have thought I would be involved in as many activities and sports after my injury and amputation,” Crane said. “I feel so good to really get back into competition. You know those guys that everybody is annoyed with because they are always so competitive? Now I’m that guy everyone is annoyed with, but at the same time, I also make sure the guy next to me is doing as well as he can, too.”
For eight years, another wounded warrior, Tatiana Perkins, lived with a paralyzed right arm after a motorcycle accident on May 12, 2006. She was a staff sergeant with the Air Force Reserve’s 940th Civil Engineer Squadron at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., when the accident left her with a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn medial collateral ligament, shattered clavicle and complete nerve erosion in her right arm.
A doctor first suggested amputation a year and a half later. Perkins said she didn’t seriously consider it until she moved to Tucson, Ariz., and began working as an amputation rehabilitation coordinator at the Veterans Administration Hospital. There, she met a man with a similar injury who became a Paralympic athlete after his elective amputation.
While Perkins, like Crane, is an athlete who competed in the Warrior Games this year, her main motivation for eventually having her arm amputated was different – she wanted to start a family with her husband, and didn’t relish the thought of being a one-armed mother.

Tatiana Perkins practices the standing discus throw Aug. 3, 2014, at the Air Force Academy, Colo. The Wounded Warriors are conducting their final group practices prior to the up coming Invictus Games in London Sept. 10-14, and the Warrior Games Sept. 28 through Oct. 4, 2014. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Tim Chacon)

“Taking care of a child is one of the things I worried about with one arm, like changing a diaper,” Perkins said. “While I know how to change a diaper with my feet, it’s not like I can go out with my child to the mall and use a public restroom to change the diaper with my feet. It’s about independence for me.”
Crane and Perkins are among the many wounded warriors who choose to have a limb amputated for safety concerns and to aid their rehabilitation. Both retired Airmen credit being around and talking to other wounded warriors with helping them make a decision they think will improve their quality of life.
“When it came time to pulling the trigger on the amputation, it made it that much easier,” Perkins said. “Here I was, thinking about what was taking me so long to make a decision on improving myself, and there were Airmen, Soldiers and others, who only a year or two into their injuries were already prospering and doing things they never thought they would do prior to their injuries. I got tired of playing in my backyard. I wanted to get out.”
Elective or delayed amputations amount to about 15 percent of all combat-related amputations, according to a Military Medicine article published in 2011. Surgeries are performed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center near Washington, D.C.; Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio; Naval Medical Center San Diego and Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland.

Retired Staff Sgt. Melissa Coduti and Tatiana Perkins participate in a 100m sprint during the Invictus Games at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre, England, Sept. 11, 2014. Athletics is one of several sports the more than 300 wounded warriors from 13 nations competed in. The vision of the Invictus Games is to harness the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for those who serve their country. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Tiffany DeNault/released)

Wounded warriors who face this decision must weigh several important factors, said Dr. (Maj.) James Bales, an orthopedic surgeon with the 81st Medical Group at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. As head coach of the Air Force Warrior Games team, Bales talks with many Airmen and Air Force veterans who have to decide about elective amputation. When counseling them, Bales wants the wounded warriors to consider whether the benefits of amputation would outweigh the risks.
The main factors he recommends they consider are: the functionality of the limb, whether the muscles or nerves still function, how bad the limb was damaged and the location of the injury. Recovery and rehabilitation tend to be easier for lower limbs than for the hands and arms, and aren’t as susceptible to swelling, he said.
“We’ve made such huge strides in below-knee amputations, with some great prosthetics available today, that these people can pretty readily return to relatively completely normal lives,” Bales said. “For the upper extremities, the hand is hugely more needed than the foot, so to press forward with hand or arm amputation is a lot bigger deal because of what you need them for — activities with daily living. When we talk about the upper extremities, we want to see if we can save the thumb and one finger to have a pincher group, so he can pin something down with the forearm.
“The main thing is we want to focus on 98 percent of the things they can do, rather than the 2 percent they cannot.”

Tech. Sgt. Leonard Anderson and Staff Sgt. Daniel Crane go over swimming techniques during the Wounded Warrior Pacific Invitational (WWPI) swim meet at the Iolani High School’s Dillingham Pool. WWPI is a competition among seriously wounded, ill and wounded service members from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy and Special Operations Command. The WWPI is the largest joint-service competition to take place outside the annual Warrior Games. (U.S. Navy photo/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Kenneth R. Hendrix)

A tattoo Crane got above the scar on his right arm near the one-year anniversary of the shooting shows his commitment to the things he can still do, even after his delayed amputation. The tattoo illustrates the words of a Bible verse, “Faith and trust in what we cannot see.”
Now that the hand that was no longer serving him as intended was removed, Crane is learning to shoot and throw a football with his left hand. He received his prosthetic hand just a few weeks after his June 20 amputation, and now even has hopes of returning to his active-duty career, though he was medically retired in February.
“The chances of me coming back into the military now that I’ve had my amputation, I think, have gone up because I will be able to do so much more,” Crane said. “Now that I have the prosthetic, I can grab things with my hand, I can do pushups, and I can still pass the fitness test.
“Now that I’ve gone through my own elective amputation, I am really very happy with it. With the prosthetic, I feel I can do more and more. It just makes me feel like I have two hands again.”

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2014/10/addition-by-subtraction/#sthash.7GrcRS8o.dpuf

Bringing Justice: Guardsman Chases 'Bad Guys' As Detective, TACP

Master Sgt. Patrick DiCrasto is a tactical air control party specialist at Hancock Air National Guard Base, N.Y., home of the 174th Attack Wing of the New York Air National Guard, and a detective with the Syracuse Police Department’s Special Investigations Division. His main role in SID is investigating narcotics activity throughout Syracuse, N.Y. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee)

Whether he’s calling in close air support during a firefight or investigating narcotics activity in Syracuse, N.Y., Master Sgt. Patrick DiCrasto’s mind is focused on bringing justice to the “bad guys.”
The tactical air control party specialist at Hancock Air National Guard Base, N.Y., home of the 174th Attack Wing of the New York Air National Guard, is also a detective with the Syracuse Police Department’s Special Investigations Division. The division investigates narcotics activity and vice and works hand in hand with the gang task force. He’s also an assistant team leader with the department’s SWAT sniper squad.
“It’s what we’re here for – to get justice,” said DiCrasto, who’s also the 274th Air Support Operations Squadron superintendent of operations under the wing. The squadron is a TAC-P unit that primarily coordinates and controls close air support for an Army maneuver unit.
“We’re going out looking for bad guys overseas, and we’re going out looking for bad guys here in Syracuse. The biggest difference is you have to be able to separate the military job from the police job because you obviously can’t call in air strikes back here,” he said. “Overseas, I know what I’m there to do and what I can do to get the job done. My actions are governed by the rules of engagement, the ground scheme of maneuver and the commander’s intent. When I’m back home, I know that it’s local, state and federal laws that govern what I do as a police officer.”
DiCrasto’s two roles have several similarities, but he also knows to remain vigilant in both settings for anyone who might wish to do him harm.

Master Sgt. Patrick DiCrasto, a tactical air control party specialist at Hancock Air National Guard Base, N.Y., talks with Private First Class Dustin Spradling, with the 187th Infantry, about who will be coordinating with the incoming aircraft for an exercise at the Fort Drum bomb range in New York. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee)

“I can’t say being a police officer on the street is like being in combat,” DiCrasto said. “However, cops on the street always need to have that heightened sense of security, just like when you’re on patrol in Iraq and Afghanistan. You are always on point when it comes to looking for suspicious activity, identifying possible enemy activity, or providing security for you, your team and everyone else.”
DiCrasto began his military career as an infantryman on active duty in the Army, then worked with a scout reconnaissance platoon in the National Guard. He left the Guard to become a police officer and joined the Air National Guard in 2003, completing his TAC-P training at Hurlburt Field, Fla., the following year.
His Army background has proven useful with building trust while working with ground troops in forward locations. He deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq twice each, the last time in 2010, and found building trust a difficult, but necessary, part of the TACP role during the wars in both theaters. The knowledge that he was a prior infantryman, coupled with his SWAT experience in the police force, helped bridge that gap easier, DiCrasto believes.
“Sometimes it’s tough because you have to build that respect and trust,” he said. “Typically, it’s done in the field when your unit becomes engaged in direct combat. They’re looking to see if you can do your job, and if they can count on you to call in air support and get ordnance on target. They are always assessing to see if you can be a combat operator like them and a TAC-P. That’s when they know they can count on you.”

Syracuse police detectives Patrick DiCrasto and his partner, Dave Metz, stop two local residents after spotting suspicious activity. DiCrasto has worked in the police department’s Special Investigations Division since 2012. His main role in SID is investigating narcotics activity throughout the city.  (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee)

The same is true in police work, when officers must depend on each other to not only save their own lives, but also those of innocent civilians. Perhaps that’s why some of his most memorable cases were those he worked with Detective Steven Kilburn of the criminal investigations division. DiCrasto and Kilburn a former partner DiCrasto has known since they attended the police academy in Syracuse together, shared some of the same assignments in their careers. Although they no longer work in the same division, they remain close friends.
“I have known Pat for almost 18 years,” Kilburn said. “We went through the academy together and worked side by side for several years. I have always had admiration for him, not only because of his policing abilities, but also because of his service in the Air National Guard, and that is hard for me to say, being a former Marine. But Pat has made several sacrifices for the City of Syracuse, and even more so for the United States.”
While both worked in CID in 2006, they responded to a stabbing at about 2 a.m. A woman in her late 40s was stabbed multiple times, and her mentally-challenged adult son was also stabbed. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene, and the son was transferred to a local hospital but wasn’t able to help in the investigation. Some at the scene believed the case was a burglary turned violent, but DiCrasto and his partner thought the evidence showed otherwise.
“When my partner and I began discussing it, we believed the evidence at the scene pointed in a different direction,” he said. “This was not some burglar who came in and got spooked and stabbed her to death. This was somebody who was in a fit of rage. So we started focusing that night on previous boyfriends.”

Detective Patrick DiCrasto fires his rifle at steel targets during training for the Syracuse Police Department’s SWAT sniper team. DiCrasto has been part of the police force for more than 17 years. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee)

They locked in on a suspect, tracked him down and found evidence in his house that supported their belief he was involved in the murder. After only a few hours of interviewing the suspect, he gave a full videotaped confession.
“It was pretty memorable because of the fact that it seemed like most wanted to go with a different theory, but my partner and I believed it was probably not a typical burglary gone wrong,” DiCrasto said.
“What was also memorable about this was at first the guy put up the resistance to our questioning, which is pretty typical of everybody we interview,” he said. “But after being presented with some of the evidence and what our theories were, it was almost like a switch had been thrown with this guy, and he wanted to tell his story. He wanted everybody to know he went there to murder her. You could tell there was evil behind his eyes, and he wanted to tell his story. As we originally suspected, he was enraged by their recent breakup.”
In another case the two officers worked on in one of the department’s crime suppression units, they collared two fugitive homicide suspects within two weeks. The first was a fugitive from Alabama who was working from an apartment building with a reputation for crime and drug activity. They used a proactive tactic to combat the nightly criminal activity at this location, he said.
“It was basically to leave two guys back, so my partner and I stayed behind after we saturated the building with our entire unit,” DiCrasto said. “Typically, when the cops leave, everybody starts coming back out. We waited in a stairwell until we heard voices, and came out and grabbed a bunch of people. One of them happened to be the homicide suspect.”

After pulling over a car for speeding in a residential area, Patrick DiCrasto asks for the driver’s information. DiCrasto is a detective with the Syracuse Police Department’s Special Investigations Division, as well as a tactical air control party specialist at Hancock Air National Guard Base, N.Y. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee)

The second fugitive had been the driver in a drive-by shooting in New York City, and the pair stopped him for a taillight violation. Even though he gave them a fake name, they took the time to identify him through the department’s computerized photo system instead of letting him go with a warning.
Both DiCrasto’s civilian and military occupations are also service-directed and save lives. A TAC-P, who is a qualified joint terminal attack controller, is a force-multiplier on the battlefield, he said.
“I don’t really see my job as going out there and saving lives,” DiCrasto said of his TAC-P responsibilities. “Our job is to basically go out there and kill as much of the enemy as possible and be a force multiplier for the ground commander and his maneuver element or team. But when you get into a firefight, you typically need air support because you and your ground commander or team leader are trying to mass as much firepower on the enemy as possible. At the end of the day, depending on the situation, the close air support you called in may have saved lives. That’s one of the aspects of this job that make it so satisfying.”
DiCrasto moved to the special investigations division in 2012 after first working patrol, crime suppression and criminal investigations during his 17 years on the force. His main role in SID is investigating narcotics activity throughout the city.
“Some people think of drugs as a victimless crime, but I don’t believe it is,” he said. “I have seen how it destroys people when they are hooked on drugs and how it destroys your family. A good majority of our murders are drug and gang-related here.
“The drug users can be considered victims of their addiction, and victims of the drug dealers that pedal their products and prey on their addiction. Even though they are willing participants purchasing and using narcotics, they really are the victims because of how destructive some drugs can be.”

Master Sgt. Patrick DiCrasto is a tactical air control party specialist at Hancock Air National Guard Base, N.Y., home of the 174th Attack Wing of the New York Air National Guard, and a detective with the Syracuse Police Department’s Special Investigations Division. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee)

While DiCrasto has grown accustomed to seeing some disturbing scenes during his two careers, both in a war zone and in the city, he still has his focus on bringing justice. That remains the case, whether he’s working to help protect ground forces in a firefight or the citizens of Syracuse.

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2014/09/bringing-justice/#sthash.OCBIcNH2.dpuf

Water Police: MacDill's 'Navy' Monitors Restricted Waters Surrounding the Base

Marine patrol members Staff Sgt. Alyssa Rade (left) and Senior Airman Shane Ynclan are just like land-based security forces Airmen, except they patrol the base’s waters instead of buildings and streets. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)

Staff Sgt. Alyssa Rade and Senior Airman Shane Ynclan keep a vigilant watch over their base. They confront and deal with any trespassers in their restricted area. The difference for these security forces members is the zone they patrol isn’t the flightline using a squad car, instead their watch is on the ocean waters surrounding MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. driving a high-powered boat.

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They patrol MacDill’s 7.2-mile coastline, called the coastal restricted area, which extends 1,000 yards from the shoreline and 2,000 yards from the flightline, making it a “danger zone.” The 6th Security Forces Squadron Marine Patrol Airmen have patrolled the waters continuously since the patrol was initiated in November 2011.

In the aftermath of 9/11, a base threat assessment identified the coastline as a vulnerable area to a terrorist attack, and with critical missions that take place at Macdill, including organizations like U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, the Joint Communications Support Element and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane reconnaissance aircraft, securing the coastline is a priority. While almost 10 other bases have marine patrols, MacDill’s is the only 24/7 operation of its kind in the Air Force.

Staff Sgt. Alyssa Rade returns to the MacDill Air Force Base marina after patrolling the base’s shoreline. Rade is a member of the 6th Security Forces Squadron’s Marine Patrol Flight. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)

“What’s unique is the area around the base is an actual security zone, so no one and no vessel is allowed within that security zone,” said Officer Jesse Gabbert, the 6th SFS Marine Patrol officer in charge. “That’s the primary reason we’re out here, to make sure no one comes into the security zone. Anybody who comes into the security zone is considered a threat until our personnel can deem otherwise, and they respond accordingly, just like they normally would if an individual were to break the red perimeter out on the flightline.”

Only environmentalist researchers and local and state law enforcement agencies are allowed in the restricted zone. Motion sensor cameras are manned in the control center to aid the patrols in spotting unauthorized boats in the area. The marine patrol crews have arrest and apprehension authority within the area, but they mostly work with state and local police departments and the Coast Guard.

When they find boaters operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs or other criminal activity, they usually detain them until other law enforcement agencies like Florida Fish and Wildlife or the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office marine units arrive to make the arrest.

For security forces members, working in the marine patrol flight requires a separate screening process. In addition to a records review, they also must have a minimum 85 physical fitness test score and pass a swimming test in the 200-meter freestyle and 25-meter underwater, as well as be able to tread water in their Airman Battle Uniform for five minutes. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)

When a two-person crew like Rade and Ynclan spot a boat in their restricted zone, they pull up to it with lights flashing or sirens blaring and call in a “Code Five” to the Base Defense Operations Center, just as they would if they were land-based security forces. They challenge all occupants, who are directed to raise their hands while the patrol crew accesses the situation.

After taking the boat outside the restricted area, Rade and Ynclan ask for driver’s licenses and boat registration to run it through the BDOC’s law enforcement terminal system and screen it through National Crime Information Center. They make sure each occupant has a life preserver and look for signs of alcohol. Even if the boaters are doing nothing but fishing or simply got lost, the patrol is usually direct in pointing out they are in a restricted area.

“We’re going to challenge them and make sure we can see what they’re doing on board,” Rade said. “We will explain to them why we pulled them over, that they pretty much broke into our restricted area. We explain the $275 fine for an initial infraction, and that it could go up to a $3,000 fine and apprehension the next time they come in. We issue them a citation, a DD Form 1805, a district court notice violation. After that, we give them the ticket and send them on their way.”

By far, the patrol’s busiest time is in late January and early February, during Tampa Bay’s Gasparilla Fest. The festival celebrates a legend of a mythical Spanish pirate captain and is basically a water boat parade, with more than 1,000 boats in the area. This year, three marine patrols stopped between 50 to 60 vessels and detected several boating under the influence offenses. In a normal week, they may encounter five or six boats, with more activity during the summer.

Staff Sgt. Alyssa Rade, 6th Security Forces Squadron’s Marine Patrol Flight, ties the unit’s patrol boat to the dock after her shift. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)

“It was so bad we would have two boats tied to our boat, and we would be issuing and briefing people left and right,” Rade said. “People who didn’t even know each other would be pulled up together alongside us.”

While Ynclan was already a veteran boater, having grown up in Florida, Rade had never driven a boat before her marine patrol training. Both found their unique job a refreshing change from gate and patrol duty on land.

“It’s definitely a big adjustment to be out on the boat every single day,” Ynclan said. “The things you normally do with your job, like using the radio, becomes a little more difficult on the water with the waves and moving with the boat. So everything gets heightened a little bit on the water.”

While most of the job is spotting trespassers and looking for signs of impaired boaters, the patrol has saved at least one life. A two-man crew was able to reach a 17-year-old who lost his father’s sailboat in 50-mph winds and was about to capsize in his rubber dinghy when they reached him. Both members were awarded medals for what they did that day.

One of the challenges in patrolling the MacDill waters is the range of the water depth. In some areas, the water is as shallow as just a few inches; in others, it can be as deep as 25 to 30 feet. They have four 29-foot aluminum chamber boats and two 26-foot Armstrong boats, as well as two jet propulsion boats that are ideal for shallow water.

Gabbert retired as a master sergeant from security forces, where he was the training and resources superintendent at MacDill and joined the marine patrol in 2009. They were looking for someone who could manage a consistent training standard. The MacDill program has become one that other installations have looked to in starting their own marine patrol.

“We’ve reached a level of being recognized as the premier marine patrol in the Air Force,” he said. “We are trying to lean forward for the Air Force and train units at other bases. The reason I came out here was that training standard, and that’s something we envision–to hopefully push an Air Force standard for marine patrol.”

Another recent success is a partnership with the Security Forces Center Innovation Department and U.S. Transportation Command to develop electronic tactics, techniques and procedures for utilizing non-lethal weapon systems in a maritime environment, Gabbert said.

Security forces members must pass a screening process and interview, which includes an examination of performance reports and duty history. They also must have a minimum 85 physical fitness test score and pass a swimming test in the 200-meter freestyle and 25-meter underwater, as well as be able to tread water in their Airman Battle Uniform for five minutes. When selected, they have a 30-day probationary period to prove they will be able to handle a boat while completing training through the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators.

Senior Airman Shane Ynclan is assigned to MacDill Air Force Base’s 6th Security Forces Squadron’s Marine Patrol Flight. Security forces marine Airmen have patrolled the waters surrounding MacDill continuously since the patrol was initiated in November 2011. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)

Once trained and on the job, the patrol crew members are just like their land-based security forces professionals–except they patrol the base’s waters instead of buildings and streets.

“The way I always relate it to security forces is they are patrolmen, just that they are marine patrolmen,” Gabbert said. “They’re not operating a $27,000 sedan, they’re operating a $200,000 boat. The biggest thing is maturity, even with the young Airmen we get because we’re entrusting them with that type of equipment and operating out there in those types of conditions.”

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2014/07/water-police/#sthash.tFR6SuYe.dpuf

The Mighty War Wagon: KC-135's Replacement is Near, But 50-Year-Old Aircraft Still Has Few Years Left to Carry AF Fuel

An F-16 Fighting Falcon is refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker during a cross-country flight. The KC-135 also provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied nation aircraft.

About 20,000 feet above Valdosta, Ga., Capt. Matthew Swee and Master Sgt. Nancy Primm complete their checklists to prepare their tanker to link up with six A-10 Thunderbolt IIs for a training refueling mission.
KC-135 Stratotankers like the one flown by the 6th Mobility Wing crew from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., will eventually be replaced by the KC-46A Pegasus. But the 50-year-old airplane the old Strategic Air Command alert crews nicknamed “The Mighty War Wagon” still has some years ahead of it and planes to fuel.
“I think the latest generation of tanker crews have kind of lost that concept of ‘The War Wagon,’ because the majority of crew members never sat on alert for SAC. The majority of those boom operators have retired, so the concept of ‘The War Wagon’ and what it was designed to do has been kind of lost over the years,” said Master Sgt. Ernest Burns, the superintendent of a 418th Flight Test Squadron detachment that is testing the KC-46 in Seattle.
Early in his career, Burns was a boom operator with many of the SAC alert crewmembers who came up with the nickname because of the KC-135’s original mission.
“The nickname stems from what the KC-135 was designed to do. It was designed to re-fuel a SAC bomber, specifically the B-52 (Stratofortress), to go to war. So that was where ‘The War Wagon’ came from, it was designed to go to war, to re-fuel the B-52.”

Tech. Sgt. Stephen Shin inspects KC-135 Stratotanker nose gear doors before taking off a training mission. Shin is a crew chief with the 927th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

The KC-135 has been at the core of the Air Force’s aerial refueling mission for more than five decades. The first one flew in 1956, and the Air Force received the latest models nine years later. In the past 13 years, the tankers flew 33,500 sorties and refueled more than 135,000 aircraft with more than 12 billion gallons of fuel, according to Air Force statistics. In addition to refueling, KC-135s have also been used in command post and reconnaissance missions. Life-cycle upgrades, including communications, auto-pilot and surveillance equipment, to the KC-135R/T models expanded their capabilities and made them more reliable.
In 1993, MacDill AFB lost its flying mission when the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission moved the F-16 Fighting Falcon mission to Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. But it began to change with the arrival of the 6th Air Base Wing a year later, followed by the refueling mission in 1996, said 6th Air Mobility Wing historian William R. Polson.
“MacDill was chosen as the site for the KC-135 air refueling mission, in part, because tankers flew fewer flights than the fighters and were less noisy, the tankers were more compatible with the aircraft of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the tankers were compatible with the predominant types of aircraft using the nearby busy airports in Tampa and St. Petersburg,” Polson said.
The 1995 BRAC sent the Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., refueling mission with 12 KC-135s to MacDill AFB, and the 6th ABW became the 6th Air Refueling Wing, Polson said. In 2005, the Defense Department’s streamlining effort moved four more KC-135s from Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., to MacDill AFB. The base’s active-duty and Reserve KC-135 crews continue to support aircraft in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility with about 1 million pounds of fuel daily, Polson said.

Senior Airman Rowdy Moore washes a KC-135 Stratotanker. Moore is assigned to 6th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

Before Swee, Primm and the rest of their crew took off to meet the A-10s from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., Staff Sgt. Estefano Estrada, Airman 1st Class James Wild-Garcia and other 6th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron members prepared the KC-135 for the mission. As they drew near to the area where they would link, Primm began talking to the pilots and observing how they were flying their aircraft. Handling multiple planes requires the boom operator to become somewhat of a conductor, said Primm, a 91st Air Refueling Squadron boom operator and 6th Operations Support Squadron combat support flight superintendent.
“Aerial refueling is an aerial ballet,” said Primm. “It also takes on the aspect of the boom operator becoming something of a conductor, in that I’m telling this musician that his piece is coming up, and this is how I want you to play it. Once this person has played his piece of music, I’m going to direct him over here, and I’m going to direct you. So I become somewhat of a musical conductor.”
Even as the two planes draw near at 232 mph, Primm keeps her conversation to her pilot at a minimum, maybe telling him over her radio, “He is flying a little low,” or “He is flying a little to the right.” She learned the lesson of both minimal words and a moderate tone from an experienced pilot during boom operator training at Altus Air Force Base, Okla. “I try not to be a chatty Cathy because after a certain point, they’re going to start to tune me out, not because they want to, but because their brains can only handle so much,” she said. “So if I keep my updates to a minimum, then when I do start talking, they’re going to be listening to what I have to say.”
When the planes are linked for refueling, Primm is sometimes close enough to read the pilot’s name tag, she said.

The boom of KC-135 Stratotanker is connected to an A-10 Thunderbolt II during an aerial refueling mission. Once connected, fuel is transferred from the KC-135 to the A-10.

Once the KC-135 disconnects from aircraft it refueled, there isn’t a lot of emotion, whether they just completed a training mission or have given gas to a fighter aircraft in a war zone. All attention is still on the plane, and on the checklists that help make each mission successful and safe.
“Traditionally, we do this a lot, so it’s pretty routine for us because we train every day,” said Swee, a 6th OSS instructor pilot. “In terms of thoughts, what you’re doing is making sure all your safety checklists are complete, that you’re thinking ahead of the airplane, what the weather is down-track and trying to anticipate any issues that might come up while you have airplanes roughly 10 to 12 feet apart like we do.
“As you’re flying through the air, a lot of times you have to overcome turbulence that’s associated with flight, and you have additional air dynamics created from two airplanes interacting with each other,” he said. So, emotions don’t really come into play. There are plenty of things in terms of checklists and safety checks, and basic air traffic control that keep you busy.”
Burns is working on the developmental test for the KC-46A with Boeing and the 418th FTS detachment in Seattle. The new tanker’s first flight is scheduled for this summer in Washington, but Burns believes the KC-135 will be around for a few more decades.
“If you think about it, that airplane first flew 50 years after the Wright Brothers,” Burns said. “It’s really amazing how technology kind of went from the Wright Brothers to the KC-135 in just those 50 years. The first KC-135s rolled off the assembly line in 1955, and the last one was made in 1964, and they’re still around, very capable and reliable.”

From a pod in the rear of a KC-135 Stratotanker, Master Sgt. Nancy Primm connects a refueling boom and transfers fuel to an A-10 thunderbolt II during a training mission over Valdosta, Ga. Primm is a boom operator with the 6th Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.