Master Sgt. Alvin Kuper completes a pre-flight checklist aboard a KC-135 Stratotanker for an air refueling mission in support of the Rim of the Pacific exercise July 10, 2010, over the Pacific Ocean. Sergeant Kuper is a boom operator assigned to the 465th Air Refueling Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Kamaile O. Long)