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Team Scott Airman find home at international base

  • Published
  • By Maj. David Kurle
  • 455th AEW public affairs
CHAGHCHARAN, Afghanistan --  When Staff Sgt. Sean Schuster found out he was deploying here from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., he was told he’d be working with three other Airmen in the petroleum, oil and lubrication shop.

What he didn’t know was that he and the three other Airmen would be the only American military presence at this forward-operating base run by the Lithuanian military.

“I thought it would be four POL people, not four Air Force or U.S. people period,” Sergeant Schuster said.

Sergeant Schuster, along with Senior Master Sgt. Philip Welsh, Master Sgt. Robert James and Staff Sgt. William Cook arrived here May 8 with a mission to refuel helicopters that might be needed to medevac Coalition personnel from this remote, central region of Afghanistan.

In almost two months, they have not had the opportunity to provide fuel to even one helicopter, but they maintain the quality of the aviation fuel and their equipment should the need arise.

“We’re basically here for emergencies,” said Sergeant Cook, deployed here from Scott Air Force Base, Ill. “If one of the (military liaison and observation teams) members get injured, they have to be evacuated out so we have to refuel the medevac helicopter.”

This base is home to almost 200 Lithuanian, Danish and Croation soldiers, as well as a security force from Iceland and civilian contractors. The mission is to support military liaison and observation teams that patrol the Ghor Province, assist Afghan civilians and keep a wary eye out for extremists.

Instead of isolating themselves, the four Airmen embraced their international counterparts and became involved in camp life, acting as quasi-ambassadors for the Air Force.

“It’s been a great pleasure working with such professional soldiers,” said Col. Vilmas Satas, the Lithuanian officer in charge of the base.

Lithuania, once part of the Soviet Union, provides the bulk of the military people based here. Colonel Satas used to serve in the Soviet Army during the Cold War and said he never imagined serving beside Americans one day in Afghanistan.

The admiration is mutual.

“Twenty years ago, the U.S. and Soviet armies were trying to annihilate each other, and now we’re over here working with some of them,” said Sergeant Welsh, an Air National Guardsman from Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. “I think we’ve all made some new friends out here, some good friends.”

Sergeant Welsh, a vehicle mechanic, has made inroads with his camp-mates. The Afghan terrain is not kind to vehicles, and he has been helping with routine maintenance and repairs.

“We really appreciate Phil’s help fixing vehicles,” said Capt. Bo Jepson, an MLOT commander from the Danish Army. “I have only good things to say. I think they’re all very professional, and they try to mix in with the camp. They have the multi-national spirit. They don’t just keep to themselves.”

Despite being from different nations, the whole camp has formed a tight-knit community, everyone doing their part to accomplish the mission of the International Security Assistance Force, which is helping re-build Afghanistan.

The four Airmen credit their international counterparts with making them a part of the international community at the base.

“A lot of it’s due to the people we work with,” Sergeant Welsh said. “It doesn’t matter that they don’t speak English or come from a different culture. You just mix in with them and show them you’re interested in what they do.”

One of the team’s goals is to work themselves out of a job by teaching the Lithuanians about POL so they can take over. The Lithuanian government sent a truck to replace the pumping equipment used by the Americans.

Unfortunately, the 1970s truck is in need of repairs, to which the Airmen are happy to lend their collective expertise.

“The first problem we had was an air problem,” said Sergeant James, deployed from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. Compressed air is needed to pump the fuel from the truck to an aircraft.

The team isolated the problem and Lithuanian mechanics fixed it, only to discover the pump leaked fuel because the plastic veins the fuel travels through were burned out.

“After we found the veins melted, they asked us to find the parts,” Sergeant James said. “It just so happened, when we were walking around, we found a plastic crate we were able to use.”

The team is still looking for seals and O-rings to repair the truck completely, but when they do, it could very well be the beginning of the end for the Air Force deployment here.
While the team teaches soldiers from Lithuania to take over the fuels mission, the four Airmen also learn from their students.

“It’s quite diverse,” Sergeant Cook said. “We learn a lot of things from each other.”