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Kentucky Air Guard Flexes Maritime Skill in Caribbean for Emerald Warrior
September 4, 2025
U.S. Air Force special tactics Airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Airlift Wing conduct infil operations into the Caribbean Sea from a Mississippi Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk off the coast of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Aug. 28, 2025 as part of Emerald Warrior 25.2, a large-scale special operations exercise staged in multiple locations by Air Force Special Operations Command. St. Croix provides an ideal environment for testing littoral and maritime capabilities, simulating many of the geographic features that special operators may encounter when deployed around the world to project air power in unfamiliar or contested environments. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Dale Greer)
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialists from Kentucky Air Guard Recognized for Excellence
August 18, 2025
Staff Sgt. Austin Duck, a team lead in the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight, leads his team during a training exercise at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, Ind., July 26, 2025. Duck was recently awarded the 2024 EOD Master Blaster award in the non-commissioned officer Category. (U.S. Air national Guard photo by Airman 1st Class Angelee Barnett)
Kentucky Air Guard Civil Engineers Strengthen Operational Readiness in the Azores
August 18, 2025
Fire protection specialists from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Civil Engineer Squadron extinguish flames from a simulated engine burn during an exercise at Lajes Field, Azores, June 23, 2025. The exercise was staged by the Portuguese military to help prepare Guardsmen for fire crisis scenarios. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman 1st Class Angelee Barnett)
Exercise Grindstone Tests Kentucky Air Guard’s Earthquake Response
May 27, 2025
A C-130J Super Hercules aircraft from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 165th Airlift Squadron lands at Barkley Regional Airport in Paducah, Ky., May 13, 2025, carrying Airmen and equipment needed to stand up an aerial port that will function as a cargo hub and evacuation center as part of Exercise Grindstone, a major earthquake-response simulation. Paducah lies within the New Madrid Seismic Zone, the most active seismic area in the Eastern United States, and could serve as an air hub in the event of an large-scale earthquake (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Dale Greer)
Canine Callie, DOD’s Only Search-and-Rescue Dog, Retires from Service
May 12, 2025
Callie, the only certified search-and-rescue dog in the Department of Defense, is ready for some well-earned play time at the conclusion of her retirement ceremony at the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Ky., Jan. 24, 2025. Over the course of more than six years with the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, Callie served on numerous exercises and six real-world deployments, searching for survivors in the aftermath of floods, tornadoes, an avalanche, a collapsed coal mine tipple and multiple demolished buildings. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Dale Greer)
Kentucky Airman Earns Navy Commendation for EOD Excellence
September 11, 2024
Airman 1st Class Barrett Darlington, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist with the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Civil Engineer Squadron, earned the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal after graduating from the Air Force EOD preliminary course and the U.S. Navy’s eight-month explosive ordnance disposal school.
National Guard Showcases Capabilities during Northern Strike
August 12, 2024
U.S. Air Force members from various Air National Guard units across the country watch as a C-5 Galaxy lands for a wet-wing defuel during Exercise Northern Strike 24-2 at Camp Grayling, Michigan, Aug. 9, 2024.
Kentucky Air Guard to Fly at D-Day Observance in France
June 4, 2024
A C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 123rd Airlift Wing takes off from the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Ky., May 22, 2024, bearing the distinctive livery displayed on U.S. aircraft during World War II. The plane will fly over France June 6 as part of observances for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces invaded Normandy to turn the tide of the war in Europe.
Kentucky Guard Airlifts Materials for Arctic Circle Housing
May 15, 2024
Airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Airlift Wing unload pallets of cargo under blizzard conditions during an engine-running offload from a Kentucky C-130J Super Hercules aircraft in Deadhorse, Alaska, April 26, 2024. The cargo consists of construction materials to build homes for civilians as part of Innovative Readiness Training, a Defense Department program that provides service members with real-world deployment experience while offering lasting benefits to civilian populations.
Ecuadorian Military Leaders Visit Kentucky Air National Guard
February 2, 2024
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Elija Lamastus, center right, a medic assigned to the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Medical Group Detachment 1, demonstrates the use of a combat application tourniquet to Ecuadorian Navy Adm. Jaime Patricio Vela Erazo, chief of staff of the Ecuadorian military, at the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Ky., Jan. 31, 2024. Vela Erazo was one of several Ecuadorian military leaders who visited the Kentucky Air Guard to exchange information as part of the State Partnership Program.
Kentucky National Guard Posthumously Honors World War II POW
December 22, 2023
U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jack Henry Owen served in the Kentucky Air National Guard for more than 24 years after his time as a prisoner of war during World War II. He is shown in the cockpit of a Kentucky Air National Guard RF-101 Voodoo aircraft in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
Kentucky Air Guard Training Fosters Multicapable Airmen
September 15, 2023
Airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Civil Engineer Squadron use defensive fighting positions during a training exercise in Shepherdsville, Ky., June 2, 2023. The purpose of the training was to promote multicapable Airmen by training them on skills outside their primary jobs.
Special Warfare Operators Compete for Title as Top Pararescuemen
September 8, 2023
U.S. Air Force pararescuemen execute precision parachute landings at Freeman Municipal Airport in Seymour, Ind., Sept. 4, 2023, as part of the PJ Rodeo. The biennial event, which tests the capabilities of pararescue Airmen across the service, was hosted by the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Dale Greer)
Missouri Air Guard C-130H Maintainers Learn J-model Systems
August 1, 2023
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Tristan Grigsby, center, a C-130H Hercules maintainer assigned to the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center, Missouri Air National Guard, is trained on C-130J systems by Airmen with the 123rd Airlift Wing, Kentucky Air National Guard, at Louisville Air National Guard Base, Kentucky, May 3, 2023. During the two-week training, Grigsby and Senior Master Sgt. Ryan Breyfogle, aircraft maintenance superintendent with the AATTC, learned J-model fundamentals such as power on checklists, fueling operations, aircraft towing, operating radios, and general troubleshooting.
New York Air Guard Supports European, Pacific Exercises
July 31, 2023
A C-17 Globemaster III from the 105th Airlift Wing sits on the ramp at Kuwait International Airport June 30, 2023. Seventeen Airmen from Stewart Air National Guard Base, Newburgh, N.Y., flew around the world carrying the 123rd Contingency Response Team in support of exercises Air Defender 23 and Mobility Guardian 23.
182nd AW Leads C-130 Hercules Operations at Air Defender 23
June 15, 2023
U.S. Airmen with the 182nd Airlift Wing, Illinois National Guard, deplane a C-130 Hercules aircraft to prepare for exercise Air Defender 2023 at Wunstorf Air Base, Wunstorf, Germany, May 31, 2023. Exercise AD23 integrates U.S. and Allied air power to defend shared values, while leveraging and strengthening vital partnerships to deter aggression around the world.
123rd Special Tactics Facilitates Aircraft Highway Landing
May 9, 2023
An MQ-9 Reaper prepares to take off from Highway 287 in Wyoming during Exercise Agile Chariot April 30, 2023, honing capabilities linked to Agile Combat Employment. Instead of relying on large, fixed bases and infrastructure, ACE employs smaller, more dispersed locations and teams to rapidly move aircraft, pilots and other personnel as needed.
Kentucky Guard Airmen Support South Pacific Exercise
February 14, 2023
Members of the 123rd Logistics Readiness Squadron load a pallet of cargo onto a North Carolina Air National Guard C-17 Globemaster III at the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 10, 2023. The gear was transported to the Northern Mariana Islands for Cope North, a multinational exercise designed to enhance combat readiness in the South Pacific.
Airmen From 3 States Repair LC-130 Stranded at South Pole
December 20, 2022
From left, Staff Sgt. Grant Santese, Tech Sgt. Daniel Craig and Staff Sgt. Jonathan Hooker worked tirelessly for two days in extreme weather at the South Pole to get an LC-130 Skibird airborne after a mechanical malfunction at the end of November 2022.
Kentucky Air Guard Upgrades to C-130J Super Hercules
September 12, 2022
A C-130J Super Hercules aircraft arrives at the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Ky., from Lockheed-Martin Corp. In Marietta, Ga., Aug. 25, 2022. The plane is the eighth J-model to be delivered to the 123rd Airlift Wing since November, completing the unit’s transition from legacy-model C-130H transports.