Sacramento native deploys, helps bring fuel to fight

Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Greg Biondo | U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Dan Quasius, a boom operator from the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, flips through a pre-refueling checklist on a KC-10 Extender at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, Feb. 24, 2012. The 908th EARS provides critical air refueling to aircraft in the area of responsibility, delivering more than one million gallons of fuel to the fight every day. In 2011, the 908th EARS offloaded more than 390 million pounds of fuel to more than 28,000 aircraft, and flew more than 36,700 hours in almost 4,600 missions. The average sortie length for a KC-10 mission in Southwest Asia is about eight hours.  

SOUTHWEST ASIA, AFGHANISTAN

03.01.2012

Story by Staff Sgt. Sara Keller 

United States Air Forces Central     

SOUTHWEST ASIA – Senior Master Sgt. Dan Quasius, a KC-10 Extender in-flight refueling technician, or boom operator, with the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, recently deployed from the 70th Air Refueling Squadron, Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

Quasius is a Reserve airman and hails from Sacramento, Calif. He is part of a four-man team and has been a boom operator on the KC-10 for just a few years. He has served in the Air Force for more than 32 years and the majority of that time he worked as a KC-135 Stratotanker boom operator.

His crew consists of a pilot, a co-pilot, a flight engineer and himself, the boom operator. When he’s not operating the boom on missions over Afghanistan, he works as a physical therapist at the University of California-Davis Medical Center.

As the boom operator, it is his responsibility to direct receiver aircraft into an air refueling position and operate in-flight air refueling controls and switches to safely maintain contact between tanker and receiver aircraft.

Every other day Quasius and his crew fly anywhere between seven to 14-hour missions over Afghanistan, off-loading nearly 50,000 gallons of fuel to aircraft such as A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, U.S. Marine Corps Harrier A/V-8Bs, and F-16 Fighting Falcons. They also receive fuel from KC-135 Stratotankers and other KC-10s.

It is the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron mission to bring fuel to the fight and has been for many years.

“In 2011, the 908th EARS offloaded more than 390 million pounds of fuel to more than 28,000 airplanes and flew more than 36,700 hours in almost 4,600 missions,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth Moss, the 908th EARS commander. “In the last year, my unit provided about one-third of the airborne fuel used to protect our ground troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, allowing us to support 1,643 troops-in-contact events, 1,488 shows-of-force, 1,445 strikes and 2,555 priority events. Broken out another way, the 908th EARS provided critical aerial refueling to support four-and-a-half TICs, four SOFs, four strikes and seven priority events every day.”

With more than 15 deployments under his belt, Quasius contributes to these types of numbers every time he sits down in the boom operator’s seat and flies in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

“My favorite part about our mission here is the satisfaction of knowing that the gas we offload is helping our troops on the ground,” he said.

• Date Taken: 03.01.2012
• Date Posted: 03.01.2012 06:09
• Story ID: 84534
• Location: SOUTHWEST ASIA, AF