Assigned to the Bahrain-based Middle East office of the Defense Energy Support Center, Major Mendel Waddell served as an Army quality surveillance representative for fuel coming into and out of the U.S. Central Command area of operations. "We would have a large military tanker full of fuel come into a port somewhere in the Middle East," he explained. "We would go meet that ship out in the ocean, gauge the fuel . . . make sure the fuel was all inspected and then download million of gallons into the fuel point." In fact, starting in October 2001, Waddell spent 275 days offloading and inspecting more than 80 million gallons of fuel in Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates. During Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Waddell said, "I would inspect fuel that morning, send it in trucks that afternoon, and see the effects of what I did in Afghanistan the next day, i.e. the bombers flying over, so it was very rewarding to see that happen." Among his other notable responsibilities was ensuring the quality of fuel that went into Air Force One and Air Force Two.

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