Air Force Week in Photos

Twelve KC-10 Extenders and six C-17 Globemaster IIIs take part in an "elephant walk," as part of a training exercise Nov. 21, 2013, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. The exercise enabled aircrew, maintenance, command post and operational support personnel to test their ability to launch a mass amount of aircraft in support of real-world operations. An elephant walk is a nose-to-tail taxi formation. The aircraft are assigned to the 305th Air Mobility Wing.

Senior NCOs and officers serve food to Airmen during the Thanksgiving luncheon Nov. 21, 2013, at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. The Thanksgiving meal enforced esprit de corps and supported Airmen who celebrate the holidays without their families.

An A-10C Thunderbolt II conducts close-air support training near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. The A-10C is with the 188th Fighter Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard.

Members of the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron board an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System as part of Exercise Polar Force 13-9 Nov. 6, 2013, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The readiness exercise is designed to validate the wing's ability integrate, mobilize and prepare assigned personnel, aircraft and equipment for their wartime mission and to employ forces and weapons systems to perform the tasked mission.

An Afghan air force Mi-17 helicopter lands as part of an air assault exercise with members of the Kandahar Air Wing Security Forces Kandak Nov. 10, 2013, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Members of the kandak conducted fly away training with NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan advisers from the 443rd and 441st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadrons. The 18-person class was taught the basics of air assault, including infiltration and exfiltration, unloading and loading from an aircraft and how to secure an aircraft.

Lt. Gen. Russell Handy looks into a coal furnace Nov. 21, 2013, at the Central Heat and Power Plant at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Handy received a detailed tour of the power plant to better understand Eielson AFB's unique operations. Handy is the 11th Air Force commander.

An HH-60 Pavehawk from the 55th Rescue Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., flies over Tucson during alternate insertion and extraction training with the pararescuemen of the 48th Rescue Squadron, Nov. 13, 2013.

Staff Sgt. Kimura Helwig spends time with a resident of Trinity Homes Retirement Community Nov. 16, 2013, in downtown Minot, N.D. Helwig is a member of Friends of Veterans volunteer group, an organization that hosts various events for veterans throughout the year. Helwig is assigned to the 791st Missile Security Forces Squadron.

An E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system flies over an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia just after refueling Nov. 16, 2013. AWACS provide service members situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theater forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied, and coalition operations.

Airman Evan Rios (left) and Master Sgt. Don Mitchell deliver a stuffed cow to Madeline Dougherty, 2, who is appropriately nicknamed ‘moo-moo’, during a visit to Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Nov. 20, 2013, in Omaha, Neb. The Airmen were part of a group of 12 volunteers who delivered more than 90 stuffed animals on behalf of the Air Force Sergeants Association, Chapter 984. These animals included an internal pouch where patients could place a star after making a wish. Rios is a 55th Strategic Communications Squadron communications operator and Mitchell is a 55th Force Support Squadron manpower analyst. Both are stationed at Offutt AFB, Neb.

Capt. Candice Adams Ismirle waits to receive a radiation treatment Oct. 22, 2013, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. After approximately two years in remission, Ismirle recently learned her cancer had returned.