The last McConnell

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Robert Barnett
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan --  As Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, begins the process of closing down, the deployment taskings from home stations will start to slow and, in cases, stop. One of the latest to complete their home station's final deployment at the Transit Center was the KC-135 Stratotanker flight crew deployed out of McConnell Air Force Base, Kans.

"We've been here since August," said Capt. Roque Zarate, 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron pilot, and a native of Rio Rancho, N.M. "This is the last McConnell flight deployment at the Transit Center."

Relatively few crews from McConnell deploy to TCM.

"We typically don't have as many crews that come out here as, for example, Fairchild Air Force Base does," Zarate said.

The mission their tour supported was to supply fuel to aircraft supporting the troops on the ground in Afghanistan. The crew even had the opportunity to be at the first KC-135 forward operating base in Afghanistan. They flew several missions with less than an hour's notice.

"That's pretty cool because it takes just over an hour to get there from here, and it takes about two hours or so from other KC-135 bases," Zarate said. "Our time from Mazar-e Sharif really decreased from the time we found out about it to when we delivered the fuel. It gets pretty rewarding for me to know we're supporting the mission. You feel like you really get to see how you're impacting operations in Afghanistan."

The crew was new, including a boom operator who had never deployed.

"This is my first deployment, and my last out here," said Airman 1st Class Alex Woosley, 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, and a native of Ramona, Calif. "Not many people get to come out here from our base, so I'm pretty lucky."

The team has accomplished a lot.

"I'm pretty proud to be from McConnell and coming out here and support our troops down in country," said Capt. Lucas Miller, 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron pilot, and a native of Rossford, Ohio. "Little did I know, coming out here, that we were going to be the last McConnell crew to do so."