Along with its Regular Air Force and Air National Guard partners, the Air Force Reserve also participates in national and international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) missions as directed by higher authority. A third unique mission set in the Air Force Reserve, Aerial Firefighting, is conducted in tandem with the Air National Guard and also has no counterpart in the Regular Air Force. In many of these units, particularly in the MAF, the aircraft have been re-marked to include both Regular Air Force and Air Force Reserve Command or Air National Guard organizational and unit markings. In wartime, AFRC provides 23 percent of Air Force’s total C-130 theater airlift force, with nearly half of the Air Force Reserve’s airlift units flying their own unit-assigned C-130 Hercules aircraft, several of which have now integrated Active Associate units from the Regular Air Force. AFRC also operates stand-alone C-5, C-17, C-130, C-40, KC-46 and KC-135 units that are operated by the Air Mobility Command (AMC). Nearly 70,000 reservists are assigned to specific Air Force Reserve units. AFRC also provides aerial refueling capability with aircrews operating AMC KC-10 Extenders in associate units and KC-135 Stratotankers in both associate and Air Reserve Component air mobility wings, air refueling wings and air refueling groups.

Associate unit reservists are most heavily concentrated in the Air Mobility Command (AMC) and fly AMC’s largest airlifters, the C-5 Galaxy, and the newest AMC global airlifter, the C-17 Globemaster III, with Air Force Reserve associate crews accounting for nearly 50 percent of the Air Force’s total C-5 and C-17 air crew capability. The C-130’s speed, range, load-carrying characteristics and capability to operate under difficult terrain conditions make it an invaluable and versatile aircraft, strong enough to deliver its cargo on unimproved landing strips. Your body needs vitamin K to help form proteins that are needed to make healthy bones and tissues as well as to help your blood clot properly. This unique program pairs a Reserve unit with an active-duty unit to share a single set of aircraft and rests on the idea that there are more operational requirements than there are manpower to fulfill them. There was evidence of extreme stress on the airframe demonstrated by buckling of the fuselage aft of the wing and gaps appearing between the fuselage and the canopy during the flight (visible in high-resolution photographs taken by spectators).

A single AFRC bomb wing is equipped with the B-52 and is operationally aligned with Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). AFRC also operates numerous F-16 and A-10 aircraft in stand-alone AFRC fighter wings that are operationally aligned with the Air Combat Command (ACC). Air Combat Command (ACC) F-22A Raptor air dominance fighters, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-15E Strike Eagle multipurpose fighters, A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft, MQ-1 Predator remotely-piloted aircraft are jointly operated by ACC active duty personnel and AFRC aircrews via Associate units. In another alignment with AMC, more than 9,100 Air Force Reservists train in the C-130 Hercules theater airlift mission in a variety of aircrew, aircraft maintenance and support skills as both stand alone AFRC units and in “Associate” arrangements with Regular Air Force and Air National Guard C-130 units. In an active associate unit, the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard owns the aircraft, while the active duty Regular Air Force embeds a squadron, group or wing that provides air crews, aircraft maintenance and support personnel who share the responsibility of flying and maintaining the AFRC or ANG aircraft.

Reserve aircrews, for example, average more than 120 military duty days a year, often flying in support of national objectives at home and around the world. These are the people who are obligated to report for duty for a minimum one weekend each month and two weeks of annual training a year, with most performing many additional days of military duty. IMAs are part-time Air Force Reservists who are assigned to active duty Air Force units and organizations, combat support agencies, Unified Combatant Commands and the Joint Staff to do jobs that are essential in wartime or during contingency operations, but do not require full-time manning during times of peace. Many AGRs serve with operational AFRC flying and non-flying wings and groups; at active and reserve numbered air forces; on the staffs of other USAF Major Commands (MAJCOMs), Field Operating Agencies (FOAs) and Direct Reporting Units (DRUs); on the Air Staff at Headquarters, U.S. However, many Air Force Reservists, especially those in an active flying status, serve well in excess of this minimum duty requirement, often in excess of 120-man-days a year. ARTs are accessed from either the active duty Regular Air Force, the AGR program, Traditional Guardsmen (TG) in the Air National Guard, or TRs in the Air Force Reserve.