An Air Force pilot prepares to enter the cockpit of an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., July 11, 2018. The pilot is assigned to the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing. The wing is deploying nearly 300 airmen and approximately a dozen F-16 Fighting Falcons to the 407th Air Expeditionary Group in Southwest Asia in support of an air expeditionary force rotation. South Carolina Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Ashleigh S. Pavelek