"Our job is to get the crews what they need, train them, qualify them, and get them out to the fight," says Lt. Col. David Kasberg, the commander of the 48th Airlift Squadron at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. As the C-130J schoolhouse, this recently reactivated squadron, whose legacy dates back to World War II, will train every active-duty Air Force and Air National Guard crew that will fly the Super Hercules.

C-130J crews from the active duty US Air Force, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Command, the Italian Air Force, and the Royal Australian Air Force headed to England last April for the first-ever multinational exercise exclusively for C-130J.

The Royal Air Force C-130J fleet notched its 50,000th flight hour last February, an achievement celebrated at the aircraft's home base at RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, about ninety minutes west of London.