About 30,000 feet over northern Iraq, an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker—call sign Python 25—is "dragging" two F/A- 18C Hornets up the airborne "avenue" toward Mosul, topping off the fuel tanks of the Navy jets, so they can provide airborne fire support in the operation to rid the country of ISIS. The Python 25 mission, flown by an aircrew from Fairchild AFB, Wash., and operated out of Al Udeid AB, Qatar, is one of dozens of such daily missions in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR).
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