756 ARS does the business in Texas

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  • By Senior Airman Katie Spencer
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  The 756th Aerial Refueling Squadron from Joint Base Andrews, Md., is participating in a business effort training mission here, June 25 through 30.

A business effort training mission is a series of flying missions over one or two weeks where an aerial refueling unit provides support to another unit with their training. For this business effort, the 756 ARS are supporting the 356 Airlift Squadron, here.
 
"Training the school house is an important mission," said Capt. Dan Vicchio, a pilot for the business effort mission. "These are pilots new to aerial refueling and the skills they will receive from this training will be heavily utilized in their future."

The 356 AS is the Air Force Reserve's only Formal Training Unit which gives active duty, guard and Reserve aircrews training and flight qualifications for the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Pilots, flight engineers and load masters are all trained at the school house before going to their operational units. Students come to the 356 AS after completing basic aircrew training at their respective technical schools. Aircrews also attend the school house if they are cross-training into flying a C-5 aircraft. Ground and air lessons are taught to ensure proper operation of the major weapons system aircraft.

After the preliminary training is complete and the crews graduate and become operational, the next step is getting qualified on aerial refueling. Pilots need this qualification in order to become aircraft commanders. The course ranges from three to four weeks and includes day and night refueling with various fuel loads. The KC-135 provides refueling support for this part of training.

"We can't effectively train air refueling students without reliable tanker support," said Lt. Col. Scott McLaughlin, 356 AS commander. "The business effort supporting the school house makes training go smoothly and gives steady continuity to the program. We appreciate the tanker community assisting us with our mission."

While the 756 ARS provides assistance with C-5 aerial fueling, the squadron benefits from the training as well.

"Participating in a business effort helps out both units involved for collective training," said Lt. Col. Robert Blake, 756 ARS commander. "It is a very efficient use of our resources over the training period and we appreciate the opportunity to support training requirements."