Thanks Grant! My first 2 years was in POL during Viet Nam. I spent those 2 years 12 on 12 off on the flightline of Andersen AFB refueling fighters and bombers. I cross trained into the USAF Band as a guitarist and spent the next 20 years there. The difference was enormous. 

The soldier above all others prays for peace,
for it's the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds & scars of war.
Douglas Macarthur
 
 
For my freedom, I sincerely thank and salute all soldiers!!

The soldier above all others prays for peace,
for it's the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds & scars of war.
Douglas Macarthur
 
 
Thanks for that post Mesh

bayoubill
Thanks Grant! My first 2 years was in POL during Viet Nam. I spent those 2 years 12 on 12 off on the flightline of Andersen AFB refueling fighters and bombers. I cross trained into the USAF Band as a guitarist and spent the next 20 years there. The difference was enormous. 

 Salute and thanks for all that. I certainly know what those 12 hours no days off feels like, but only for mobility and a few minor incursions. We were only just playing war for the most part was 3 shifts. I can only imagine what it was like for real. Not sure what POL is. When I was in it was reduced to 3 divisions. MAC, SAC and TAC. Military airlift command, Strategic air command and Tactical air command. Last I heard they reduced it to two.  I only got to fly on my Starlifter once. First time I got to stand in the fight deck as they were flying real low dropping pallets.
Cargo compartment, hydraulic systems so loud hearing protection is required, and red seats on the way back was not exactly first class accommodations. The box lunches sure made up for it though. And the K-rations..Mmm all this talk has me hungry for K-rations,...and becon of course.
     

Cryogenics was my main assignment at first. Working with liquid oxygen, storage/dispense etc. In those days POL was cryogenics, jet fuels, and bulk storage. We were short handed,as always, so I also refueled the bombers. Eventually I had to work in the jungle taking fuel from Navy tankers then pumping that to the flight line. 12 on 12 off is tuff! The weird thing is I loved those jobs!. I was nearly killed only twice but when you're 19 nothing phases you!
In those days  Cryogenics, fuels, and bulk storage were the same job. Now they are 3 different career fields and POL is basically refueling aircraft. The Air Force is much different now than it was then. 

I fought the cold war from a desk in California.