U.S. Air Force Maj. Gena Fedoruk, left, and 1st Lt. Marcel Trott, both KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft pilots with the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, take off from a base in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Sept. 23, 2014.
The Airmen flew the mission in support of a large coalition strike package that was the first to strike Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in Syria. President Barack Obama authorized humanitarian aid deliveries to Iraq as well as targeted airstrikes to protect U.S. personnel from extremists known as ISIL. U.S. Central Command directed the operations. (DoD photo by Senior Airman Matthew Bruch, U.S. Air Force/Released). Original public domain image from Flickr