Operation Iraqi Freedom
9/20/2008 ? SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq ? Christopher Haag passes the half-way point as he pulls away from more than 300 other runners at the 10 K run hosted in Baghdad as part of the 12th Annual Air Force Marathon. Haag finished the run with a first-place time of 36:47. Airmen, Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Defense Department civilians, contractors and coalition military members came out to participate in the run on dirt roads along the flightline west of Baghdad International Airport. The 26.2-mile Air Force Marathon, hosted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, kicked off with a fly-over by a formation of an F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15 Strike Eagle and F-22 Raptor. The Baghdad runners also had a flyover of sorts, as a C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules, as well as HH-60 Blackhawk helicopters all took off from Sather AB during the run in support airlift missions in and around the Operation Iraqi Freedom theater of operations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Brian Davidson)