Since becoming involved in the C-130J program as an Air National Guard operator more than seven years ago, I have endured opinions about how good or how bad the aircraft is. Usually, a few facts accompanied pontification, depending on what side of the fence a particular review originated.

"Form ever follows function" was the dictum of famed American architect Louis Sullivan, father of the skyscraper. To him, detail was integral to the design of the building itself, not just ornamentation added for effect. Aircraft embody this concept. Nothing is designed in or installed on an aircraft without reason. The C-130J is certainly no exception. It is an airlifter; that is its function. Small details taken together give the Super Hercules its form.

Men and women joining the Italian Air Force to serve their country will find unexpected worldwide opportunities in the 46th Air Brigade, the C-130J transport unit of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana, or AMI. The 46th Air Brigade, or wing, based in Pisa, consists of the 2nd and the 50th Gruppos (squadrons) that share twenty-two C-130J Super Hercules, ten of which are the stretched fuselage model.