Retired U.S. Air Force Col. John Strube, Airlift/Tanker Association treasurer, Gen. Mike Minihan, Air Mobility Command commander, Staff Sgt. Morgan Reed, 375th Logistics Readiness Squadron ground training noncommissioned officer-in-charge, and Col. John Poole, 375th Air Mobility Wing commander, are pictured holding ceremonial shovels at a groundbreaking event for a new monument honoring Operation Allies Refuge on Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, which took place on Aug. 28, 2024. Operation Allies Refuge, the largest non-combatant evacuation mission in history, involved evacuating 124,000 individuals, 79,000 of whom were Afghan citizens, from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jacob Silva-Dreyer)
