2004: I was out of the Air Force by this time working in IT. Music pretty much s*cked. Gas was up to $2.10 a gallon (and it was pissing me off) and the Summer Olympics were held in Greece.

In my four years in the KC-135, I carried my helmet on every single mission. I only wore it once, and that was only because my headset stopped working, and it sucked. It’s heavy, you have to go on O2 so you can breathe, and it’s heavy. But, somebody had an artistic eye when they thought to take this photo, good job!

The reflection of a US Air Force B-1B Lancer aircraft is shown on the helmet shield of SSGT Andrew Diaz, a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft Boom Operator from the 28th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, following a refueling mission at a forward deployed location in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQ FREEDOM

OPERATION ENDURING/IRAQI FREEDOM, SSGT Shelley Gill, March 17, 2004.

Yeah baby... B-1B approaching the contact position.

TSGT Lance Cheung, August 1, 2000

1981: Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes tops the charts, NASA launches the very first Space Shuttle Mission, and Air Traffic controllers find out they don’t have as much leverage as they thought when Ronald Reagan fires them.

Don’t know that I’ve ever seen this livery before, It’s an unusual one for sure.

Caption: An air-to-air front view of an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft painted in commando colors preparing to refuel taken from the boom handlers position of a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft.

Pacific Ocean, Garfield F. Jones, September 4, 1981

1976: John told Paul that all he ever did was write silly love songs, so Paul wrote a song… Another great one to mention, “December ’63 (Oh, What a Night) by The Four Seasons… man that’s a great song. Sly came out with the classic Rocky, an instant success and The Enterprise, the first space shuttle, was unveiled. Gas was only fifty-nine cents a gallon.

I remember July 4th, 1976, thirteen days before this photo, vividly. I was a little kid, and we went to the racetrack in Riverhead Long Island to watch the modified race cars and the fireworks display for the 200th Anniversary of the United States of America.

Too bad we elected Jimmy Carter that year.

Meanwhile, at Edwards AFB, a Boom Operator was having a little bit of fun refueling the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (named after the P-47 Thunderbolt), lovingly referred to as the Warthog. Not the fastest jets I’ve ever refueled, but damn they can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.

Edwards Air Force Base, June 23, 1976

January 1984: “Do They Know It’s Christmas” made everyone feel bad, “Where’s the Beef?” made everyone laugh, Britian gave Hong Kong back, and Geraldine Ferraro was selected as the vice-presidential candidate on the Democratic Ticket.

Meanwhile at Loring, winter is in full bloom and the snow blowers are doing their thing in front of a KC-135A. After the snow blowers, the ice polishing machines would follow and make it nice and smooth for us. We loved those guys.

(TSGT Jim Katzaman)

I think this might be my favorite KC-10 picture... at least with the gray livery... near Edwards Febuary 7, 2005

This is probably one of those motivational poster somewhere at a squadron, or the pentagon.

Aim High!