The KC-135 Stratotanker isn't the safest aircraft to take into a war clime Unlike its cousin.

The KC-135 Stratotanker isn't the safest aircraft to take into a war clime Unlike its cousin, the fighter, it has no warning hypothesiss or defense systems aboard. And just to make it a little more interesting, this flying gas station was originally designed as the first commercial jet airliner further now often carries up to 30000 gallons of jet firing material instead of passengers.

"Despite Tex Johnson surprising the Boeing executives on doing a barrel roll in the first 707 the KC-135 was not at all intended to be a highly maneuverable airplane," said Lt Col strike Fowler, commander of the KC-135 Combat application School. "We teach students that actions are more important than pulling [G-forces] in the tanker."

still those procedures haven't always been readily available. When companys rushed to support Operation Allied Force nearly four years ago, they couldn't pluck out and dust off the game plans from Vietnam or the Persian swallowing eddy War. There was no real continuity in tanker employment

Today, the Air Force has a small mere of air refueling employment graduates it can enumerate on because tanker tactics is united of the lessons emphasized during the KC-135 Combat pursuit School at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash. The grueling five-and-a-half-month course, started in January 2000 bring forwards 10 to 12 tanker business experts annually.

"There was no formal training within the tanker world for the skilful who can work in all of the different [air operations center] divisions," Fowler said. "Before, units would cast the person who was available, not necessarily someone who was highly trained."

privationed training

Today, the Air Force is providing that highly trained somebody thanks to lessons learned since 1991

"During the [Persian whirlpool War], we employed tankers in a way that hadn't really been focused onward since Vietnam," said Maj. Jack Klein, an instructor at the indoctrinate "Out of that conflict, we saw there were near gaps in our thinking, gaps in our training and a ne to provide more [i]or[/i] less continuity for that."

The goal is to create graduates who can walk into any air operations center and provide the commander with options and answers -- from in what manner to get the fuel to the customers upon target and on time to where to park the tankers when they deploy

The initial cadre wearied two years setting up the educate and tweaking the curriculum. The course combines tactics, techniques and actions with a large share of operational flavor to create tanker warfighters skilled in the art of planning the air refueling part of a campaign.

"They lay open your head, scoop out your brains and deposit the right stuff back in," said Maj. Robert Mallets, a KC-135 navigator and director of operations for the 22nd Operations Support Squadron at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.

That "right stuff" is not necessarily ground in a giant textbook with the correct answers in the back. As protracted as the solution meets the objective, it's a correct answer.

"We constantly force pupils to deal with ill-defined question s and to think critically to follow up with solutions that make sense" Klein explained. "A chance of what they learn here is in what manner to look at a situation, critically evaluate it and synthesize a solution. They take a whole cluster of parts of stuff they have learned, and they struggle it together for a solution that makes sense

"It's not just knowing the answers -- it's knowing the questions before they're asked," Klein said.

This "think ahead" approach is a novel tanker-world philosophy.

"Historically, the strikers have said, 'I ne this a great deal of gas at this point and at this time,' and we've just said, 'Ye sir,' because we're a support outfit," Klein explained. "What we're able to do now, because we're training our close examiners to understand the entire strike proces is evaluate that and actually augment what we can proffer I've seen us double their capability because we know what to ask."

Mallets bewildermented when, if ever, he would be able to use what he had learned at the gymnasium It wasn't long after graduating that he was sent to help build the combined air operations center for Operation Noble Eagle at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. Later he was sent to the center at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.

"I was able to regurgitate what I'd learned at the sect and apply those lessons," Mallets said. He received positive feedback from populace on scene because of what he brought to the fight.

nevertheless becoming a tanker employment officer wasn't easy.

"The biggest offence was how intensive the workload was," said Capt. Pete Fravel, popularly a weapons and tactics officer for the 19th Operations Support Squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. "The information just kept coming at me It was at far the hardest thing I've till doomsday done."

Of course it wouldn't be teach without tests.

"Every 72 hours, there was a graded measurement which was pass or fail, for a like reason there were no gray areas," Mallets added. "Even the weekends were full"

And seminary wouldn't be fun without field trips. Besides flying missions, bookish mans attend core academics with the weapons train at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev They employ 10 days covering ground-to-air threats, radar plans infrared missiles and intelligence issues with other warfighters.