Our nation has been at war in Afghanistan for over six years and at war in Iraq for nearly five years. And throughout all of that time, we have heard, read or seen very little on some incredibly talented warriors who provide the lifeline to the nearly 200,000 men and women deployed to these two battlefields.

Who are these forgotten warriors? For starters, many of them are our neighbors at Pope AFB and Seymour-Johnson AFB. The airlifters from Pope and the aerial refuelers from Seymour-Johnson are members of a much larger air mobility team that spans the globe. Every 90 seconds, every hour of every day (24/7/365), an air mobility aircraft takes off somewhere in this world. That is about 900 sorties every day of the year. These men and women know no holidays.

The air mobility team is getting things and people to the fight and sustaining them while they are there. There are airlifters dropping people and critical supplies behind enemy lines and in remote areas. They are airlifting supplies and personnel within the combat zone every hour of every day. I suspect most folks don’t know that airlifters, such as Pope’s C-130 crews, are keeping our ground forces’ convoys off the road in Iraq. In one recent month, that meant 5,000 trucks and 12,000 American military members were not driving on dangerous roads. That saves lives!

The air refuelers ensure that large cargo aircraft can span the oceans and ensure that fighters and bombers can get to the fight and loiter over the target areas for long periods of time. Every day, we have air refueling missions over the oceans, passing gas to large airlift aircraft, such as the C-17, or to fighters and bombers deploying to or from Iraq and Afghanistan. We also have tankers “topping off’ the fighters and bombers daily over enemy territory. The Air Mobility Command, headquartered at Scott AFB, Ill., notes that, if you went to Niagara Falls in the summertime when the water over the falls is running the hardest and watch the waterfall for 26 minutes, you could visualize how much gas has been passed by tankers since 9/11.

Both the airlift aircraft and tanker aircraft have a secondary, but absolutely critical, mission of aeromedical evacuation missions. More than 45,000 American military members have been “air evac’ed” in support of the Global War on Terror. Any airlifter or tanker can be called upon for emergency evacuations of critical patients. The planning and execution of these missions has ensured that injured members can be back in the U.S. within three days of being wounded. This too saves lives!

Our air mobility neighbors at Seymour-Johnson and Pope AFBs are both active and reserve members. The 43rd Airlift Wing at Pope is the only active unit. The 440th Airlift Wing at Pope is an Air Force Reserve unit, as in the 916th Air Refueling Wing at Seymour-Johnson. When you see these folks, tell them “thanks for serving.”