Herculean Effort

Herculean Effort: Air Force Reserve Command dispatched a third specially equipped C-130H transport aircraft on June 27 to California to fight raging wildfires there. The aircraft, from the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., deployed to McClellan Airfield in Sacramento to assist firefighters in battling the Corral fire north of Sacramento and the Piute fire south of the city, including the Sequoia National Forest near Lake Isabella. This C-130, along with seven others operating out of McClellan as of the end of June, are fitted with the modular airborne firefighting system that allows the aircraft to drop 3,000 gallons of fire retardant per mission. Since June 26, when the missions began, these C-130s have dumped more than 117,000 gallons of fire retardant on the flames. (McClellan report by SrA. Stephen Collier)

7/2/2008

Verbatim

Gotta Be Lots
"Our airmen are flying missions 24 hours a day, seven days a week and doing it so well that our combatant commanders are constantly asking for more. And, they're getting it. … There is no telling in the space of 400,000 hours, how many service members' lives have been saved, how many insurgents have been taken out, and how many attacks against coalition forces have been stopped before they began."
—Gen. John Corley, Air Combat Command commander, speaking after the MQ-1 Predator force surpassed 400,000 flight hours on Aug. 18, 2008, ACC release, Aug. 19, 2008.

Verbatim

Most Qualified
"It takes great skill to operate the most persistent, strike, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platform in the world. The men and women of the 432nd [Air Expeditionary] Wing have proved time and again that they are the most qualified for the job, which is why the Predator remains one of the most sought-after assets in the war on terrorism."
—Lt. Gen. Norman Seip, 12th Air Force commander, commenting on the airmen who operate the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, which on Aug. 18 surpassed 400,000 flight hours, Air Combat Command release, Aug. 19, 2008.