Posted: 09/01/2014
U.S. Air Force Capt. Erica Stooksbury, a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft pilot with the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, adjusts the cockpit lighting controls in a C-17 over Iraq Aug. 30, 2014, after a humanitarian airdrop mission over Amirli, Iraq. Two C-17s dropped 79 container delivery system bundles of fresh drinking water, or 7,513 gallons. Two C-130 Hercules aircraft dropped 30 bundles, which contained 3,032 gallons of fresh drinking water and 7,056 meals, ready to eat. President Barack Obama authorized humanitarian aid deliveries to Iraq as well as targeted airstrikes to protect U.S. personnel from extremists known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. U.S. Central Command directed the operations. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.)