RESCUE MISSION

Tech. Sgt. Lem Torres hoists up a survivor on a litter during a search and rescue mission about 230 miles south of New Orleans, April 25, 2008. Responding to a request for support from the U.S. Coast Guard, two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters of the 41st Rescue Squadron and a 71st Rescue Squadron HC-130P King performed a 10-hour mission to retrieve a boatload of stranded immigrants in distress that had been picked up by a passing ship. Sergeant Torres is a 38th RQS pararescueman. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Gina Chiaverotti

HERCULES PREPARATION

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Miliefsky prepares a C-130J Hercules aircraft for a mission at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, April 29, 2008. Miliefsky is a loadmaster assigned to the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron and deployed from the California Air National Guard’s 115th Airlift Squadron out of Channel Island Air National Guard Station, Calif. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway

TAJI QADA GUARD

U.S. Army Cpl. Abraham Norton holds guard for his unit while they search for weapon caches in Taji Qada, northwest of Baghdad, April 25, 2008. Norton is an infantry team leader assigned to the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brian Pierce

MEXICO ROUNDTABLE

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates conducts a media roundtable after meeting with officials and touring the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City, Mexico, April 29, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie Cullen

GATES GREETS MARINES

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates meets with U.S. Marines assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico, April 29, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie Cullen

MEXICAN MEETING

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, center, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Antonio Garza, left, and Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, right, attend a meeting with Secretary of Government Juan Mourino and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Patricia Espinosa, both not pictured, in Mexico City, Mexico, April 29, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie Cullen

DEFENSE DISCUSSIONS

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, center right, meets with Secretary of Government Juan Mourino and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Patricia Espinosa in Mexico City, Mexico, April 29, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie Cullen

WORLD WAR II AIRMAN HONORED

U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Duncan J. McNabb sits with members of the Air Force Escape and Evasion Society, April 26, 2008, during their 44th annual reunion near Savannah, Ga. McNabb was the keynote speaker for the event held in honor of Air Force veterans who were forced down behind enemy lines and avoided or escaped capture during World War II. Photo courtesy of the Air Force Escape and Evasion Society