"VERY, VERY COOL: WHY THE USAF RULES AND THESE LADIES ROCK!!!"
  
  Hugh P. Young
  Contracting Officer, KC-10/KDC-10
  OC-ALC/PSKBA/Dir of Contracting
  Tinker AFB OK 73145-3020
  
  The 376th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, flew an ALL FEMALE KC-135
  Stratotanker air refueling mission over Afghanistan on Jan. 31.
  Early on Jan. 31, a KC-135 Stratotanker took off from Ganci Air Base,
  Kyrgyzstan, carrying more than 180,000 pounds of fuel and an all-female
  crew-both pilots, a navigator and a boom operator. The event marked the
  first all-female crew to fly an air refueling mission into Afghanistan from
  Ganci.   Capt. Heather, and the boom operator, Senior Airman Lyndi, are all
  assigned  to the 99th Air Refueling Squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. They have
  been deployed here since Dec. 9.
  
  Once inside the tanker, the women began their pre-flight and take-off
  duties  with an ease borne of plenty of experience and skill. Most of them have
  deployed before, to places like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iceland and Thailand.
  Between the four of them, they total almost 4,000 flying hours in the
  KC-135. The flight path to Afghanistan traversed three of the "Stans."
   The country itself remains a dangerous place. Just a few days before the
  historic flight, coalition forces on the ground encountered the heaviest
  fighting  since Operation Anaconda last year. Norwegian F-16s from Ganci dropped
  munitions in support from the air.
  
  Once over Afghanistan, the crew got down to business, refueling F-16s from
  the European participating air forces of Denmark, the Netherlands and
  Norway. Based at Ganci, the aircraft provide combat air support to
  coalition  ground forces.  In the refueling world, the motto is, "Nobody kicks  ass
  without tanker gas." The crew emulated that motto when the boom operator
  connected two moving aircraft together on a night with 1 percent moon
  illumination.  "It's awesome knowing that I'm having a direct impact on
  the  mission," said Lyndi on her 17th combat mission over Afghanistan. "The
  fighters couldn't put bombs on target without gas, and I'm the one who
  gets  it to them," she said.
  
  More than 50,000 combat missions have been flown in support of Operation
  Enduring Freedom.  In all, Lyndi refueled 10 European F-16s during the
  flight, off-loading 63,000 pounds of fuel.  "I'm accomplishing something
  with my Air Force career," said Alison.  This is especially true in the
  case of OEF, an operation that more than 1,800 women support, according to the
  public affairs office at Central Air Forces, the air component of U.S.
  Central Command.  "I've always thought the greatest thing I could do with
  my life was to serve my country and be willing to die for it-for my
  family, my neighbors, people I don't even know," Waynetta said. "Now,
  we're here supporting troops in Afghanistan who are defending our freedom and
  way  of life."
  
  Basking in the early morning sunlight, the tanker headed back to Ganci. As
  the snow-capped mountains poked out above the clouds, the women reflected
  on  the significance of the flight.  "All we wanted was to fly together,"
  said  Lyndi. "I'm so excited we got to do it."  "We believe in equality,"
  Waynetta said. "But, the fact of the matter is, we're still girls, and
  we're  doing something our grandmothers couldn't do.