Practice makes perfect

Airmen from the 22nd Air Refueling Wing Honor Guard prepare to move a coffin while practicing a veteran burial service June 11, 2013, at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. The honor guard trains for eight hours a day in order to achieve their goal of perfection. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Victor J. Caputo)

Flight of the Falcon

An F-16 Fighting Falcon arrives at a training base in Northern Jordan June 10, 2013, as part of Exercise Eager Lion. Eager Lion is a U.S. Central Command-directed, irregular warfare-themed exercise focusing on missions the United States and its coalition partners might perform in support of global contingency operations. The F-16 is from the 180th Fighter Wing, Ohio Air National Guard. (U.S. Air National Guard photo/Senior Master Sgt. John P. Rohrer)

Where the rubber meets the road

Staff Sgt. Trevor Loken monitors rubber removal progress from a utility work machine on a runway June 5, 2013, at Forward Operating Base Shank, Logar Province, Afghanistan. Runway maintenance is a composite team built from many civil engineering backgrounds. Loken is from the 577th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Ben Bloker)

Foggy morning

Fog rolls across the Joint Base Charleston flightline as the sun rises above a C-17 Globemaster III June 4, 2013, at JB Charleston, S.C. The C-17 is capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and all types of cargo to main operating bases or directly to forward bases in the deployment area. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Dennis Sloan)

Farewell to a true public servant

Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley bids farewell to Airmen while departing from the Pentagon June 20, 2013, for the final time as the Air Force secretary. Donley was confirmed as the 22nd secretary of the Air Force Oct. 2, 2008. He served as the acting secretary since June of that year, as well as for seven months in 1993, making him the longest serving secretary in the history of the Air Force. His departure ceremony is June. 21, 2013. (U.S. Air Force photo/Michael J. Pausic)

F-35 is backbone of Air Force's future fighter fleet, Welsh says

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III (center) answers a question posed to him from a subcommittee member during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., June 19, 2013.The subcommittee met to receive testimony on the F-35 Lightning II, joint strike fighter fiscal 2014 budget request. During the hearing, Welsh talked about the importance of the aircraft for national security and helping provide air superiority for joint operations. Along with Welsh providing testimony were: Frank Kendall, under secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; U.S. Navy Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of Naval Operations, left; Gen. John M. Paxton, Jr., assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, right; and Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan, the program executive officer for the Department of Defense's F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office. (U.S. Air Force photo/Jim Varhegyi)