LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) - The Virginia Air National Guard's 192nd Fighter Wing records its last F-16 Fighting Falcon training mission June 20.
The wing, which has flown the F-16 since 1991 and is the nation's first ANG unit to fly the F-22 Raptor, will conduct associated operations with the 1st Fighter Wing here.
More than 20 192nd Fighter Wing pilots are trained to fly the F-22 and a growing number of the wing's fulltime and traditional status Guardsmen are working alongside their active-duty counterparts, changing the face of the Virginia ANG.
At Langley, 192nd FW Airmen will associate themselves with the F-22A Raptor mission, the 480th Intelligence Wing's Distributed Ground Station imagery analysis mission and the Combat Air Force Logistic Support Center, said Col. Jay Pearsall, 192nd Fighter Wing commander.
The move is part of the Air Force's Total Force Integration initiative, which spans the entire Air Force mission and represents the service's reality of "One team, one fight, with a shared, disciplined combat focus."
"The Air Force is a team, made up of active, Guard and Reserve Airmen who work together to accomplish the mission," said Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff. "You can't look at an Airman and tell if he or she is active, Guard or Reserve. We all wear the same uniform, do the same jobs and help make this Air Force the best in the world."
(Courtesy Air Combat Command News Service)