Firebirds training in southwestern US highlights C-17 capabilities
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Brock Waldrup, a squadron aviation resource manager assigned to the 517th Airlift Squadron, pauses for a photo, while U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Valerie Stephens, a loadmaster with the 517th Airlift Squadron, coordinates with pilots to open the cargo door on a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III aircraft assigned to the 176th Wing, Alaska Air National Guard, in flight over northwestern Colorado, Jan. 9, 2021. Thirteen Airmen with the 517th AS from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, trained for a week in the southwestern U.S. with the C-17, focusing on Agile Combat Employment to train and prepare for global operations in a deployed environment.