Some airmen deployed to the desert from the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess AFB, Tex., experienced their first combat airdrop mission over Iraq during the weekend, reports Capt. Teresa Sullivan. Some were on their fifth or more deployments and had done other low-flying tactical missions, but to some, even on their second deployments, it was a first. The loadmasters geared up with flak vests and helmets because the potential for getting shot is high. They also wore night vision goggles and harnesses for safety as their pilots flew over Basra. After that mission, they flew on to Balad Air Base to pick up cargo for another sortie in their 18-hour day.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
