The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon changed the way Americans view their own safety forever.  Never again will we look at something slightly out of the ordinary without being suspicious of what could happen.  The lives of Americans have changed forever, and none more so than the members of the Armed Forces of the United States.  As President Bush called us to a new war, a War on Terrorism, U. S. military forces around the world were mobilized and sent to the far reaches of the world.

     None of this is more so than the KC-10 way of life.  Because of it's awesome refueling capabilities, yet limited numbers, it has been called into heavy duty in the Middle East from the early days of Operation DESERT SHIELD in 1990 through today, supporting Operations DESERT STORM, SOUTHERN WATCH, ENDURING FREEDOM and, most recently, IRAQI FREEDOM.  Bare bases are set up in the region, known as "Tent Cities".  Less than a month after the September 11th attacks, a new base grew out of the desert sands, and the KC-10 was the first to deploy, meeting the national strategy needs until the war on terrorism is declared over.  Obviously, the "10" will be there for many years.

     Below are a few pictures of this new way of life, which is how I lived until my retirement in early 2004.  This was a hard way of life, compared to the previous 22 years of my service, and it was a rough 2 years.

Tent City from the air

James did get promoted to MSgt

The toilet tents

A closer view

Heading to work

James' tent is in the middle - 8 people each

The "Wagon Wheel"

Welcome to the desert of Star Wars Tatooine - VERY desolate

Taking F-16s into Afghanistan

A NVG (night vision goggles shot of the cockpit

The Vice President visits our base

Addressing the troops

His autographed picture of a KC-10

Air Force 2 rests on the ramp

Our crew before another sortie

A bunch of "crew dogs"

Smile, it's not THAT bad

The Afghan countryside

The comet Ikeya-Zhang through NVGs

Enjoying a quick meal before going to fly

Refueling Navy F-18s

The Afghan countryside through NVGs

The boom operator is open for business

Refueling the B-1B bomber

French jet fighter

Excellent view of the "boom" doing his job

Getting ready to refuel a B-52 bomber

Refueling the British AWACS

Flying flags over Afghanistan