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The early arrival of the forward arming and refueling point (FARP) section of the 2nd Battalion, 160th SOAR, alleviated the long delays associated with the Uzbeks refueling all U.S. aircraft. In addition to seven fuel handlers and an ammunition handler, the FARP had three heavy expanded mobility tactical truck (HEMTT, pronounced “hemmit” by the soldiers) tankers, each capable of carrying 2,550 gallons of fuel. The FARP team leader, Sergeant First Class (SFC) Douglas Steverson, seeing how long it took the Uzbeks to refuel the C-130P air tankers, started refueling all aircraft with his HEMTTs. The FARP team tirelessly pumped fuel to all U.S. and coalition aircraft that landed at K2—120,000 gallons of fuel the first month. When the Americans began to exceed the contract for 30,000 gallons of fuel a day, Uzbek officials at the fuel farm became alarmed about their reserves. These fears were alleviated when C-17s began flying fuel stocks into K2 to support the UW campaign. Then the 528th SOSB set up a contingency fuel point of six 10,000-gallon bladders to support the refueling operation. The Uzbek hosts were happy, and the JSOTF-North staff moved on to other problems.

Figure 37. Refueling a Soviet Mi-17 at K2.