18th LRS fuels the fight

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Malia Jenkins
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Anyone who owns a car understands the importance of having a full tank of clean, reliable gas. For the Air Force, an organization responsible for defending nations and providing worldwide humanitarian relief, the same rules apply. That's where unit's like the 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron's fuels laboratory flight comes in.

The 18th LRS fuels laboratory, named best fuels flight in the Air Force for 2009 and 2011, plays a significant role in the Air Force mission.

As the largest LRS in the Air Force, the 18th LRS has more than 100 personnel to ensure government vehicles and aircraft have clean, dry and serviceable fuel.

The unit performs approximately 13,000 tests each year on various grades of fuel, which provides approximately 43 million gallons of fuel base-wide. Without fuel, more than 30 airframes would not be able to complete their mission.

Airman 1st Class Johnson Barnett and Senior Airman Rachal Eastwood, 18th LRS fuels lab technicians, check for water and contaminates in the fuel, as well as, icing inhibitors that may freeze the fuel at high altitudes.

The 18th LRS fuels flight is composed of three sections: the fuels lab, accounting and cryogenics. The lab ensures the fuel is high quality, but the accounting section keeps track of where the fuel goes and how much is used.

"We send operators to the aircraft or tank that is requesting fuel and account for anything that happens," said Staff Sgt. Joshua Johnson, 18th LRS fuels service inter-controller. "We account for any fuel movement, where it goes, where it came from, and then we bill it to the appropriate agency."

One thing that truly sets the 18th LRS apart is that Kadena is one of only two bases Air Force-wide that has cryogenics, explained Tech. Sgt. Marvin Mohammed, 18th LRS NCO in charge of cryogenic production.

Cryogenics produce liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen from the air. It is then converted into pure oxygen and pure nitrogen gas to be distributed to Camp Lester Naval Hospital and Kadena's medical clinic. The military hospitals on island are one of the unit's biggest customers.

In addition to proving oxygen for medical patients, the unit also provides oxygen to pilots to use while flying at high altitudes.

"Our mission is to support the 18th Wing and all of its tenant units as well as multiple Department of Defense agencies throughout Okinawa," said Mohammed, a 14-year Air Force veteran. "We take care of anyone who needs cryogenic support on the island."

Without the fuels lab none of the aircraft could get off the ground. They are a big part of the diverse mission at Kadena and without them the aircraft on base could not function.