67th SOS three peats with Hoyt Award

Published June 26, 2009
By Tech. Sgt. Marelise Wood
352nd Special Operations Squadron Public Affairs

RAF MILDENHALL, ENGLAND -- In sports they call it a hat trick, in bowling they call it a turkey, but for the 67th Special Operations Squadron, winning the Hoyt Award three years in a row is all about having a can-do attitude.

The Air Force Association's Brig. Gen. Ross G. Hoyt Award is an annual award presented to the organization which executed the Air Force's most meritorious air refueling mission of the year, to include active duty, reserve, and guard units.

"Winning this award three years in a row is an amazing feat," said Col. Lewis Jordan, 352nd Special Operations Group commander. "In this instance, a crew led by Maj. Kevin Brewer, 67th Special Operations Squadron, launched on an 11-1/2 hour rescue mission refueling RAF Lakenheath based HH-60 helicopters in poor weather, as part of an international team effort with a 100th Air Refueling Wing tanker and an RAF Kinloss Nimrod, to save the life of a critically-injured Burmese sailor."

According to then-Capt. Kevin Brewer, the acting 67th squadron commander at the time, what started out as a routine day of meetings turned into a call for help that his quickly-assembled crew, answered.

"Can you do it?" was the question asked of him by the Joint Air Operations Center commander. What followed was a rapid series of events that resulted in the rescue of an injured sailor aboard a container ship hundreds of miles off the Irish coast.

"It was all circumstance," said now-Major Brewer. "Most of our unit was deployed, but as we found out, we had the right people in the right place at the right time. The co-pilot, Capt. Dan Bauer was just back from a 120-day deployment, and his navigator, Capt. Nathan Colunga was in the midst of inprocessing and had to be tracked down through the spouses' network, but they were here and ready for the mission."

For a unit whose search and rescue mission is usually done in combat, taking on this role required some mindset changes as well as aircraft modifications.

"We have more of a 'go, fight, win' mission, so there was a mental switchover," said Major Brewer. "Maintenance got an entire airplane together; they refitted it, got the boats on for the rescue mission, and had us in the seats in three hours. None of this would have happened if they weren't able to get the airplane ready."

Even with the best planning and preparation, problems may still arise. The forecast the crew received predicted favorable ceilings above 2,000 feet, but during the mission the crew encountered bad weather resulting in low visibility.

According to an after-action report written by Major Brewer, predominate ceilings and visibility enroute to the ship were less than 700 feet above water level and one mile with rain showers, forcing his crew to refuel the helicopters at less than 600 feet AWL.

These fuel conditions did not stop the crew. They were still able to successfully complete four helicopter air refuelings, passing over 15,000 pounds of crucial fuel to the rescue helicopters.

On the way back to base, more difficulty ensued in the form of a malfunctioning engine.
The report goes on to say that enroute over the Irish Sea, the aircraft started rapidly losing oil out of the #2 engine. After completing engine shutdown procedures, the crew made a flawless engine-out landing and cleared the runway.

The crew had safely returned to home station after successfully meeting a challenging request, and ultimately helping save the injured sailor's life.

"There's a lot that goes into the mission," said Major Brewer. "Its success rests heavily upon support personnel who rarely get the 'thank you' they deserve. This is their award, because whatever we do is a result of all they do. As many times as things go wrong, things go right and it's the people that make it happen."

Pride in the team and unit cohesion can be seen throughout not only this squadron, but the entire group.

"The biggest factor in this 'three-peat' for the 67th Special Operations Squadron is the 352nd Special Operations Group being primed to execute at any given moment," said Captain Bauer. "This unfortunate circumstance merely highlighted our capability to do that. Although this particular crew was called to execute the mission--anyone in the 67th Special Operations Squadron would have been trained, capable and fully prepared to accomplish the operation. This depth of skill and willingness is found in each of the 352nd Special Operations Group's units, and I'm proud that we can repeatedly demonstrate that to the rest of the Air Force."