Global Thunder 16

Senior Airman Elliott Packingham, 341st Logistics Readiness Squadron fleet management analyst, shines a light for Senior Airman Zachary Simmons, 341st LRS vehicle maintenance journeyman, as he makes repairs to a Humvee during exercise GLOBAL THUNDER 16, Nov. 6, 2015 at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. Packingham and Simmons repaired the Humvee during a 12-hour shift as part of the exercise. The 341st LRS is part of U.S. Strategic Command’s (USSTRATCOM) Task Force 214 and supports the command’s strategic deterrence mission by operating and maintaining the Air Force’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile force. GLOBAL THUNDER is an annual U.S. Strategic Command training event that assesses command and control functionality in all USSTRATCOM mission areas and affords component commands a venue to evaluate their joint operational readiness. Planning for GLOBAL THUNDER 16 has been under way for more than a year and is based on a notional scenario with fictitious adversaries. USSTRATCOM, one of nine DoD unified combatant commands, relies on various task forces for the execution of its global missions, which also include space operations; cyberspace operations; joint electronic warfare; global strike; missile defense; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; combating weapons of mass destruction; and analysis and targeting. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Collin Schmidt)