An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Air Mobility Command names 911th 'the best'

  • Published
  • By Maj. Shannon Mann
  • 916th Public Affairs Office
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  The 916th Air Refueling Wing makes winning look easy.

Last year, the North Carolina flying wing won top honors at Air Mobility Command's Rodeo being named Best KC-135 Wing after a week-long competition.

This year, the 911th Air Refueling Squadron took home the brass from Phoenix Rally distinguishing itself as the 'most outstanding air refueling squadron in Air Mobility Command' for 2009. A feat almost incomprehensible considering the squadron just stood up here in 2008.

With nearly 275 active duty personnel assigned to the 911th, they made headlines in 2008 as the first KC-135R active associate squadron in the history of the Air Force. Nearly two years later they are still making headlines for their numerous successes in the aerial refueling world.

Lt. Col. William Uptmor, commander of the 911th ARS, explained the historical premise by saying "Associations aren't new, both active and air reserve components have seen tremendous benefits from associating over the years, particularly within the mobility air forces. BRACs recommendations turned the model upside down by recommending an active associate program at several Air Force Reserve Command bases. This new model provides the ability to employ resources that had been traditionally held in Reserve."

But there was nothing traditional about what the 916th was able to accomplish with this new partnership. In 2009, "916th aircraft flew 16 times the number of hours for Overseas Contingency Operations as had been flown during 2008," said Colonel Uptmor.

A milestone noted by the awards committee at Air Mobility Command.

In early April, the squadron learned that it had won the General Carl A. Spaatz trophy, an award given to excellence in the aerial refueling arena.

"The Spaatz Trophy marks a milestone of over two years of intensive work by the 911th ARS, the 916th ARW, and the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill," said Colonel Uptmor.

Intensive doesn't even begin to describe what this squadron accomplished. More than 130 of its Airmen were deployed within 2009 to six different Central Command locations. The squadron totaled more than 9,000 flight hours and flew 800 combat missions. And while doing this they also participated in Rodeo, local missions to educate ROTC students and community leaders and reached out to a community in need through volunteer efforts.

"Our ops tempo is able to be sustained through our partnership with the 916th, in-particular the partnerships within the 916th Operations Group and Maintenance Group. These partnerships allow operations to ebb and flow during Reserve and active component deployments," said Colonel Uptmor.

He explained that when the Reserve Airmen here were deployed last year to Guam and Al Udeid, there were less aircraft on the ramp, but the aircraft that remained continued to be flown and maintained by the active forces. This allowed active duty Airmen to continue to prepare for their upcoming deployments.

"In the past, operations would have nearly come to a stand-still during a Reserve deployment due to limited personnel remaining at home station," he said.

The trophy is currently at MacDill with the 6th Air Mobility Wing (The 911th falls under the 6th AMW for administrative purposes), but will move to a trophy case inside the 911th soon.

Within the 911th, members are beaming about their latest award. One 911th member said, "This award shows that the 911th ARS is on track and that AMC highly approves of our contributions as a squadron."

A sentiment echoed by all at the 916th.