On 4 November 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, seventy-six B-52s armed with two to four nuclear weapons each flew CHROME DOME sorties near Soviet Russia’s borders, waiting for the code words telling them to attack their targets. One hundred thirty-eight KC-135s from Europe and Alaska transferred more than 105,000 pounds of fuel each time the CHROME DOME Stratofortresses hooked up to their mated tankers, for a total of 14.5 million pounds on that day alone. Courtesy of the author

KC-135R tail number 63-8874 was my jet while I was stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, although I rarely got to fly it. The big CFM56 engines increased the fuel transfer capability of the KC-135 by 40 percent. We took off on training missions with 180,000 pounds of internal fuel, more gas than an American family will use in twenty-seven years. Photo courtesy of Chief Master Sergeant Al Winzerling, 909th Air Refueling Squadron maintenance NCOIC

KC-135s support national military goals at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of warfare. One strategic support mission KC-135s perform is the refueling of all three versions of the RC-135 intelligence and reconnaissance plane, such as this RC-135U Combat Sent. The Combat Sent collects technical intelligence on enemy radar systems that is used to develop new or upgraded radar warning receivers, jammers, HARMs, and training threat simulators like those employed at the Nellis Air Force Base Test and Training Range. Courtesy of the author

18th Wing commander Brigadier General Jeffrey Cliver opened all cockpits to any aircrew wanting to fly in the Shogun Wing’s aircraft. “Cruiser” Wilsbach and I are approaching a KC-135 in MOBILE 8 for refueling on a local Okinawa training mission. Lieutenant General Ken Wilsbach is the current Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and Eleventh Air Force commander. Courtesy of the author

In July 1994, the 18 Wing supported the defense of South Korea when Kim il Sung died. This F-15 pilot call sign “Trike” wore a red bandana around his neck only on combat missions, like the KIM CAPs. Each of Trike’s four flight mates took more than 15,000 pounds of fuel on each hookup during these tense two weeks in July 1994. Courtesy of the author

Three F-16CG Vipers rejoin on my crew’s wing over Turkey’s Cilo-Sat Mountain Range during an Operation Northern Watch vulnerability, or vul, period. The jets are armed for emergency defense suppression, carrying two GBU-12 laser-guided bombs used to kill antiaircraft guns or SAM sites. Courtesy of the author

This F-15C Eagle waits for gas on my wing over Turkey’s Cilo-Sat Mountain Range during an Operation Northern Watch vul period. The jet is armed, as all Defensive Counter-Air (DCA) Eagles are, with AMRAAMs, Sparrows, and Sidewinders, in what Eagle drivers call “the Load of Justice.” Eagle pilots can engage any air threats with this load. These missions were some of the most photogenic sorties I’ve flown, with aircraft armed live and backgrounds of snow-covered mountains. Courtesy of the author

I took this picture from the cockpit of an EC-130E during Operation Allied Force, the air war over Kosovo. We’re approaching a Royal Dutch Air Force KDC-10’s boom over the refugee camps of Montenegro. This is the same tanker the E-8 JSTARS was not cleared to take gas from during Operation Anaconda, a mistake I failed to catch on the schedule. Courtesy of the author

The Boeing B-1B bomber, or “Bone,” has been a workhorse during the Global War on Terror, carrying twenty-four weapons in three bomb bays. The Bone typically took sixty thousand to eighty thousand pounds of gas from a tanker while performing on-call attack (XATK) sorties during the Shock and Awe campaign of 2003. Bones departed from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota for targets in Libya and then returned, refueling from tankers twelve to fifteen times as they transited across the US, the Atlantic Ocean, and Europe. Courtesy of the author

During my visit to the USS John F. Kennedy after Operation Anaconda, then Captain Bill Gortney, call sign “Shortney,” commander of Carrier Air Wing 7, approved my flight in a Lockheed S-3B Viking from the VS-31 Topcats Sea Control Squadron. We refueled two F-18 Hornets flying surface combat air patrol (SUCAP) above the Kennedy. I logged a catapult takeoff and an arrested landing during this sortie, one of the great events of my career. Thanks, Admiral! Courtesy of the author

Our wingman during my S-3 sortie was too heavy for an arrested landing, so my pilot, Stick, took some of his gas to reduce his gross weight. Here, Stick is about to plug into their buddy store, the Cobham pod the Navy uses to refuel air wing aircraft. Our refueling probe, in the left of the picture, plugs into the basket trailing in front of us to transfer gas from one airplane to another. Courtesy of the author

I don’t know of any other Air Force officers who can say they conned an aircraft carrier during at-sea refueling. During its underway replenishment (UNREP), the USS John F. Kennedy took on bombs, mail, food, and more than a million pounds of jet fuel. Navy aircraft carriers typically UNREP every three to four days, replenishing the items needed to keep the carrier, its air wing, and its crew of five thousand sailors going during operations at sea. Courtesy of the author

The boom extension is thirty-six inches away from my left shoulder as we refuel in an F-15. The extension pipe is painted with bands and arrows that correspond to the pilot director indicator (PDI) lights on the underside of the KC-135 and the KC-10 to help pilots stay in position. Cruiser Wilsbach is flying our F-15 at near-perfect extension, keeping the yellow ball we call the “apple” inches away from disappearing inside the boom’s ice shield. Courtesy of the author

A USAF Weapons School A-10 Thunderbolt II, or “Hawg,” comes off the boom after refueling during the Mission Employment phase of Weapons School training. All eighteen Weapons School divisions come together at Nellis Air Force Base every June and December for two-week training exercises known as Advanced Integration. My team had seven hours to plan the movement of two 74th Fighter Squadron Flying Tigers Hawgs from Kuwait to Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda in March 2002. Courtesy of the author

A 36th Tactical Fighter Squadron Flying Fiends F-4E Phantom II from Osan Air Base in Korea approaches our boom during their Operational Readiness Inspection in the summer of 1986. Osan was not an ideal place for KC-135s to operate from, as the tankers’ big wings and tails extended over the small concrete parking ramp called “the Patio.” Our engines blew freshly cut grass through the doors and windows of the 36th Squadron building as we taxied out of the Patio on one mission. Courtesy of the author

I’ve been on ten aircraft carriers during operations at sea, planning strike missions and learning how a refueling customer functions. Lieutenant Commander “Hey Joe” Parsons and Lieutenant “Dog” Kuhn are about to launch in an F-14A Tomcat, call sign GYPSY 212, on a Desert Shield mission in December 1990. Watching flight operations from Vulture’s Row on the carrier’s tower was another one of those great moments from my tanker pilot career. I could never be so lucky again. Courtesy of the author