Welcome home

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Airmen of the 728th Air Control Squadron step of a plane to end their journey home May 24 from a deployment to Southwest Asia. Family members gathered in front of the squadron as more than 175 members of the 728th ACS, the Demons, returned home from a deployment to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 728th ACS mission encompasses the widest variety of Air Force careers, affording it global reach and the ability to complete its mission anywhere needed. The Airmen spent the last five months in Iraq controlling and monitoring Iraqi airspace, assisting in providing close air support for troops in conflict and reconnaissance and directing tanker traffic for refueling efforts. The squadron has spent nine of the past 12 months deployed. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mike Meares)

A long-awaited moment

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Jeni Zayas, wife of Master Sgt. Roberto Zayas, 728th Air Control Squadron, spends a few longed-for moments with her husband shortly after he arrived home May 24 from his deployment to Southwest Asia. Family members gathered in front of the squadron as more than 175 members of the 728th ACS, the Demons, returned home from a deployment to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 728th ACS mission encompasses the widest variety of Air Force careers, affording it global reach and the ability to complete its mission anywhere needed. The Airmen spent the last five months in Iraq controlling and monitoring Iraqi airspace, assisting in providing close air support for troops in conflict and reconnaissance and directing tanker traffic for refueling efforts. The squadron has spent nine of the past 12 months deployed. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mike Meares)

'Go for Broke'

France 1944 - A team of Japanese-American G.I.'s fire 105mm shells at Germans in support of an infantry attack Oct. 18, 1944 in the Bruyeres Sector, France. (Courtesy Photo)

'Go for Broke'

FRANCE 1944 -- Japanese-American infantrymen of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team hike up a muddy French road in the Chambois Sector, France, in late 1944. (Army Center for Military History file photo)

Ranger run

CAMP RUDDER, Fla. -- Brooke Gaskell, 9, of Hurlburt Field, Fla., has some abrasions on her arm and hand tended to by Lt. Col. Rhonda McKinney, a volunteer nurse at the race, after Brooke tripped 30 yards before the finish line at the Ranger Open House five-kilometer run May 6. Kelly, her mother, helps comfort her with some water. A group of more than 250 runners take off during the first of an annually planned five-kilometer and 10-kilometer run at the 6th Ranger Training Battalion Ranger Open House. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mike Meares)

Fire in the hole

CAMP RUDDER, Fla. -- Noah Yoshida, 9, of Fort Walton Beach, fires a U.S. Army Soldiers from the 6th Ranger Training Battalion slide down a rope out of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter during a downed-pilot rescue demonstration at the Ranger Open House May 6. "A largest crowd ever" of people of all ages visited the 6th RTB Rangers as they brought out their equipment for hands-on displays of weapons, diving equipment, Zodiac boat, parachute, medical and a day-in-the-life display for the Ranger training school. The Army's Reptile Team put on a reptile show where people took an up-close look at venomous and non-venomous snakes that could be found just feet from where the spectators were standing. They also put on repelling demonstrations, a downed pilot rescue demonstration and a hand-to-hand combat demonstration. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mike Meares)