Total Force partners with Soldiers in Operation Toy Drop

Paratroopers free-fall to the ground as Capt. Adam Shockley, a navigator with the 43rd Airlift Wing, listens on the ground during Operation Toy Drop. The 440th Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve, supported the combined joint exercise with C-130 airlift. More than 1,050 paratroopers jumped during the exercise held at the Sicily Drop Zone at Fort Bragg, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/Lt. Col. Ann Peru Knabe)

Where's the fire?

July - Sep 2000 -- Air Force Reserve firefighting aircraft and aircrews quenched wildfires in California, Idaho and Montana, flying C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems. Here, an Air Force Reserve C-130 Hercules MAFFS aircraft assigned to the 302nd Airlift Wing, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., drops fire retardant chemicals on the "Big Crow" wildfire in southwestern Idaho. The 302nd, along with the 146th AW, California Air National Guard, deployed to Boise, Id., to contain wildfires there before they could become major fires. The 302nd again fought wildfires in California in 2007.

C-130s fight California wildfires

Approximately 3,000 gallons of fire retardant is deployed Oct. 24 over the Poomacha Fire in North San Diego County, Calif. The C-130 Hercules and crew are assigned to the 302nd Airlift Wing from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. The aircraft launched from Channel Islands Air National Guard Station, Calif. Air Force Reserve Command officials sent two of its designated firefighting C-130H3 aircraft to help battle the raging wildfires in Southern California. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Roy. A. Santana)

C-130 Transformation

Col. Merle D. Hart, 440th Airlift Wing commander, is a master navigator with more than 5,500 flying hours to his credit. He has flown in many major worldwide contingencies during the past two decades and has served in a variety of enlisted and officer positions throughout his active duty and Air Force Reserve career. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Bagram 'first'

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- A C-5 Galaxy, the Air Force's largest airlift platform, landed here without interruption to flight operations for the first time Sept. 21. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Master Sgt. Jamie Cabral)

McChord C-17 popular at Russian air show

A view from the tail of a C-17 Globemaster III shows just some of the thousands of people who visited the Moscow International Air Show Aug. 26 in Zhukovsky, Russia. The C-17, from the Air Force Reserve Command's 446th Airlift Wing, McChord Air Force Base, Wash., was among several U.S. Air Force aircraft featured at the air show that drew more than 500,000 visitors. (U.S. Air Force photo/Maj. Pamela A.Q. Cook)