U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Ferrario, an F-16 fighter

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Ferrario, an F-16 fighter pilot with the South Carolina Air National Guard, performs a pre-flight check on the aircraft in preparation for a flight for the joint Army and Air National Guard training exercise called Carolina Thunder. South Carolina National Guard, along with North Carolina and Georgia National Guard units conducted “Carolina Thunder 14”, a drill weekend, joint training exercise Nov. 15, 2014. More than 30 aircraft participated in the mass take-off from McEntire Joint National Guard Base, Eastover, S.C. Units conducted air and ground operations at the Savannah River Site in Allendale, S.C. The S.C. Air National Guard 169th Fighter Wing’s F-16 Fighting Falcons joined AH-64D Apaches, CH-47 Chinooks, UH-60 Black Hawks and more than 100 Infantry Soldiers from the S.C. Army National Guard to train with Apaches from the N.C. Army National Guard and the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSATRS) and Joint Terminal Training Center (JTAC) from the Georgia Air National Guard in a collective force-on-force, enemy suppression and assault mission. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Amn Megan Floyd/Released)