Daniel Diaz holds welcome home balloons while waiting for his mother, Staff Sgt. Karen Cruz to return from a 120-day deployment in Southwest Asia, Nov. 5, Joint Base Charleston, S.C. More than 130 from the 14th Airlift Squadron served under the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron Supporting combat operations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Flying the C-17 Globemaster III, the 14 AS airmen flew roughly 2,800 sorties, logged more than 7,900 combat flying hours and airlifted more than 27,000 airmen, soldiers, Marines and distinguished visitors throughout the AOR. The squadron also performed 382 airdrops, delivering 16.7 million pounds of cargo to 52 drop zones, breaking the record for deployed C-17 combat operations. Diaz is with the 437th Operations Support Squadron.
<dl><dd>Unit: U.S. Air Force</dd>
<dd>DVIDS Tags: redeployment; 816th EAS; Joint Base Charleston; Staff Sgt. Nicole Mickle; 14 AS</dd></dl>
Staff Sgt. Nicole Mickle
Taken on 5 November 2011
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