Healing touch

Senior Airman Daren Marshall (left to right), Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Eller and Army Capt. Elizabeth Williams help align military working dog Zack on a table before receiving a chest X-ray Dec. 13 at an air base in Southwest Asia. Zack received an X-ray to see how his pneumonia has cleared since his last visit. Captain Williams is a 218th Medical Detachment Veterinarian. Sergeant Eller is an X-ray technician assigned to the 386th Expeditionary Medical Group and is deployed from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Airman Marshall is a military dog handler assigned to the 386th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron and is deployed from F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Raheem Moore)

Air Force bands

Master Sgt. Robert Green, percussionist with the Air Force Band of Flight Wright Brass Quintet, performs a drum solo with the help of a local boy at the Douda School while deployed to Djibouti, Africa. Air Force band members have been deploying to U.S. Central Command areas of responsibility since 2004 to entertain troops and, more recently, to help in humanitarian and outreach efforts in places like Kyrgyzstan and Kenya. Sergeant Green and the Band of Flight are part of Air Force Materiel Command. The Band of Flight is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. (Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Jason Plosch)

Getting in the spirit

Senior Airman Zachariah Lopez and Capt. Charise Fuller pull a holiday card out of a pickup truck at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, Dec. 9. The card is an entry in the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing's holiday greeting card contest, themed "Sounds of the Season." A panel of judges will select the best card at a holiday variety show on Christmas Day. Lopez, a 332nd AEW Public Affairs Office videographer, is deployed from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. Fuller, the 332nd AEW Protocol Office deputy chief, is deployed from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Erik Gudmundson)

Squad ammo load

Tech. Sgt. Jason Grant, unit deployment manager for the 88th Security Forces Squadron, loads a shipping container with small arms ammunition at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base weapons storage area Dec. 5. Base Airmen participated in a crisis response deployment exercise to send personnel, ammo and equipment to an air base in the U.S. Central Command theater. The exercise is part of base preparations for the 2009 Operational Readiness Inspection. (U.S. Air Force photo/William Pugh)

Ammo load

Munitions specialist Airman 1st Class Kyle Johnson and Bill Crenshaw, chief of the 88th Operations Support Squadron Munitions Flight, prepare pallets of small arms ammo for shipment Dec. 5 inside the Weapons Storage Area at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Base Airmen participated in a crisis response deployment exercise which simulated the deployment of more than 200 personnel and nearly 60 tons of cargo to an air base in Asia. The exercise is part of base preparations for the 2009 Operational Readiness Inspection. (U.S. Air Force photo/Ben Strasser)

Mobility bag warehouse

Lt. Col. Cheryl Lewis, 88th Communications Squadron commander, checks out her chemical and biological protective gear inside the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base mobility bag warehouse Dec. 8. More than 200 base Airmen participated in the exercise which simulated a mass deployment to an air base in Asia. The exercise is part of base preparations for the 2009 Operational Readiness Inspection (U.S. Air Force photo/Al Bright)