During the summer of 1973, the 157th participated in a joint Army, Air Force, and National Guard-Reserve training exercise. The U.S. Readiness Command training, code named Boldfire 1-74, was centered at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas. During Boldfire, ground personnel were airlifted aboard the unit's C-130 aircraft to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. They remained there throughout the exercise, maintaining aircraft. 157th C-130s, in turn, dropped paratroops and equipment in support of ground forces. During this time frame, the unit also had a crew participating in Coronet Shamrock, an Air Force-wide air-drop competition. The 157th TAG crew won the preliminary competition at Ft. Campbell, earning the right to represent the ANG in further competition. The operational honors were dampened somewhat on 12 October when the 133rd Aeromedical Evacuation Flight was inactivated. The 133rd AME Flight had been organized and federally recognized on 10 June 1961. The unit's 18 officers and 27 enlisted medical personnel would fill vacancies and augment medical services in the 157th TAC Clinic. The Energy Crisis caught up with the 157th at the end of 1973, and all flying activity was suspended from 22 December until 7 January 1974, due to fuel shortages throughout the country. In December 1974, the Group was transferred back to Military Airlift Command (MAC) when TAC's theater transport mission were transferred to MAC. Air refueling Strategic Air Command On 1 October 1975, the 157th was relieved from Military Airlift Command and transferred to Strategic Air Command (SAC), becoming a Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker unit. By the end of March 1976, the New Hampshire ANG unit had largely taken over the support of the 509th Bombardment Wing from its active-duty 34th Air Refueling Squadron which was inactivated on 31 March 1976. By October 1976, the 157th Air Refueling Group and the 509th Bombardment Wing shared the same mission and response times, giving them a link to the "Total Force Concept". The 133rd deployed to RAF Mildenhall, England, as part of the European Tanker Task Force . Once in the UK, the unit engaged in friendly competition with active duty flyers in "Giant Voice". The 133rd was also the first ANG unit to air refuel the then-experimental B-1A bomber. A January 1977 inspection rated the 157th SAC's first Air National Guard unit to be "fully operationally ready". It became the second ANG unit in SAC history to stand alert with the active force. By the end of