Friday, December 27, 2002

Keeping U.S. forces in the air

FRANKFURT, Germany The son of a Sharpsburg couple provides airtight rides to jail for Al-Qaeda terrorists.

That's just one of the many hauling chores for Air Force Staff Sgt. Stanley W. Williams, II, son of Stanley and Ellen Williams, Barrington Farms Parkway, Sharpsburg.

Williams has done much more for this war than preparing versatile C-17A Globemaster III cargo jets as maximum-security cells for al Qaeda. He is an aerospace propulsion journeyman with 300 people on the Globemaster team in Germany. The unit is known to shuttle more troops and cargo by air through the Balkans, Middle East and Africa than any other.

"Aerospace propulsion journeyman is a fancy way of saying, 'I'm a jet engine mechanic,'" said the 1993 graduate of Campbell High School in Smryna. "I make sure our engines stay in working condition, so we can get people, supplies and weapons to the fight."

A federal staff of law enforcement and medical specialists recently flew nonstop to Cuba with al Qaeda detainees in a C-17A from here. The detained included suspected bombers of the U.S.S. Cole at port in Yemen, as well as two top Al Qaeda operatives. But most of the flights hold cargo that ranges from helicopters to portable hospitals or construction equipment and crews.

The air team's day starts and ends in cold, overcast Germany. But in between, their landing zones frequently lie in ruins at remote barren desert locales and always critical to the war effort.

"My job is very serious," said Williams. "We say, 'There's no thrust without us,' because the C-17 goes nowhere without jets certified by us jet troops."

Williams makes sure the planes return safely from their dusty missions back to the terminal in Germany each night. Then he rests, or hits the Autobahn and checks out nearby Frankfurt.

"It's been a great experience. We've been working very long hours, but we do get down time to experience Europe," he said. "The culture here is rich and the people are very nice. They understand the war and treat us with respect, for the most part. I've been able to see and do things that some don't experience in a lifetime. But I do miss my family and I'm ready to go home."

Transporting al Qaeda prisoners or the Christmas mail with airtight methods on the C-17A cna be an intense time for Williams. And with the top "off-road jets" in the business, he logs long hours in the war.