Expeditionary fighter exchange
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq -- Tech. Sgt. Jake Hermanson, 332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, unhooks and rolls up a grounding cable attached to an F-16 Fighting Falcon before towing the jet to its appropriate hardened aircraft shelter during a transition between fighter squadrons here, June 13. Aircraft and personnel from the Iowa and Wisconsin Air National Guard will return to the U.S., after being in Iraq for four months; F-16s and Airmen from the South Dakota and New York Air National Guard have arrived here to take their places. Rotating fighters helps reduce the amount of time the aircraft are exposed to the hot and dusty weather of Iraq, which can wreak havoc on the planes' components. Sergeant Hermanson is deployed from the Iowa Air National Guard. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Senior Airman Julianne Showalter)