Air National Guard Leads Operation Southern Lightning Strike Exercise 2021
Over the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans, Maj. David Hutchins, a C-17 instructor pilot from the 183rd Airlift Squadron, 172nd Airlift Wing, Mississippi Air National Guard, aligns his aircraft for air-to-air refueling with a KC-46 tanker aircraft of the 157th Air Refueling Wing, New Hampshire Air National Guard, November 3. The mission is in support of Operation Southern Lightning Strike 2021, an Air National Guard led exercise where units deploy from their home bases to forward operating bases with minimum personnel and equipment to accomplish the mission in austere conditions. (U.S. Air National Guard Photo by Technical Sgt. H. Edward Stramler)