First combat XCDS drop

(From left) Master Sgt. DeMond Connors, Airman 1st Class Justin McKenzie, and Senior Airman Marisa Powers, all loadmasters with the 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, review a technical manual while preparing cargo for an airdrop using the Extracted Container Delivery System, April 29. The lessons learned rigging the XCDS on this mission were transferred to later missions, decreasing the time needed to prep the airdrop, Powers said. Connors and McKenzie are deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., and Powers, a Coventry, R.I., native, is deployed from the Rhode Island Air National Guard’s 143rd Airlift Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Scott Saldukas)

First combat XCDS drop

Master Sgt. DeMond Connors, 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron superintendent, secures a load in a C-130J Hercules before an airdrop mission, April 29. The airdrop mission was the first use of Extracted Container Delivery System in Afghanistan, a new, more accurate, method of airdrop, resulting in about a two-thirds smaller dispersion of the bundles on the drop zone. Connors is deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Scott Saldukas)

First combat XCDS drop

Crewmembers make final adjustments before loading cargo onto a C-130J Hercules for the first Extracted Container Delivery System in Afghanistan mission April 29. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Scott Saldukas)

First combat XCDS drop

Airmen prepare a C-130J Hercules for an airdrop mission April 29. The airdrop mission was the first use of Extracted Container Delivery System in Afghanistan, a new, more accurate, method of airdrop designed to pull the bundles out of the aircraft faster than a normal airdrop, while resulting in a smaller dispersion of bundles in the drop zone. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Scott Saldukas)

SAAM self-defense

Tech Sgt. Eric Bergery Jr., 451st Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron senior combatives instructor, demonstrates punching techniques during a self-defense class April 9, at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Lacey J. Hunt)

SAAM self-defense

Senior Airmen Bambi White, a flyway security team member in the Air Force, and Tech Sgt. Eric Bergery Jr., the senior combatives instructor, practice punching techniques during a self-defense class April 9, at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Lacey J. Hunt)