Another 35 of 50 best US military pictures of the year

By Barbara Tasch and Jeremy Bender

All photos taken by US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps service members.

The USS George Washington transits the Strait of Magellan on November 1. It is deployed as a part of Southern Seas 2015.
Flickr/Official US Navy Page
Dragoon troopers assigned to Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, along with Soldiers assigned to the Dutch 42nd Battle Group, perform Preventive Maintenance and Services to their equipment while constructing a Regimental Tactical Operations Center during Allied Spirit I at Hohenfels Training Area in Hohenfels, Germany, on January 20.
Flickr/The US Army
Tech. Sgt. Stephen Upton shoots an M-16 rifle at a firing range near Kabul, Afghanistan, on December 8. Upton is assigned to the Train, Advise, Assist Command-Air as a personal security detail member.
US Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Corey Hook
Soldiers of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, work as a six-member team to lift a heavy log over their heads 20 times while competing in the Ivy Heptathlon during Iron Horse Week on January 28.
Flickr/ The US Army
Paratroopers assigned to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, US Army Alaska, practice a forced-entry parachute assault on Malemute drop zone at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska on March 18.
Flickr/The US Army
The US Navy’s carrier-strike group steams alongside Japan’s navy in the Pacific Ocean on November 27.
US Navy
US and European veterans pay tribute at the grave of US Army Gen. George Patton after a wreath-laying ceremony at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg on November 11.
Flickr/US Air Force
An aircraft maintainer stands on the flight line in front of a snow-covered C-5M Super Galaxy on January 6 at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Flickr/US Air Force
Two 56th Rescue Squadron HH-60G Pave Hawks respond in a combat search-and-rescue scenario on January 16 on Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England.
Flickr/US Air Force

“Falling with Style”: Gunnery Sgt. Eddie Myers, parachute safety officer assigned to Detachment 4th Force Reconnaissance Company, parachutes from a UH-1Y Venom helicopter during airborne insertion training at the flight line aboard Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay on June 10.
Flickr/Marines
An MC-130J Commando II from the 9th Special Operations Squadron airdrops a Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System over the Gulf of Mexico during a training exercise on November 12.
US Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Matthew Plew
An F-16 Fighting Falcon receives fuel from a KC-135R Stratotanker during exercise Razor Talon on December 14 over the coast of North Carolina. The aircrew and other support units from multiple bases conducted training missions designed to bolster cohesion between forces.
US Air Force/Senior Airman John Nieves Camacho
Airmen from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron clear a hallway on November 19 in a shoot house at Camp Hansen in Japan. The airmen cleared the house as part of training led by the Direct Action Resource Center during a two-week course where a group of pararescuemen, combat controllers, and force reconnaissance Marines develop skills that they can use when they deploy with other joint special-operations teams.
US Air Force photo/Senior Airman John Linzmeier
Maj. Jason Curtis, Thunderbird 5, and Capt. Nicholas Eberling, Thunderbird 6, fly back from Minden, Nevada, on August 25.
US Air Force/Senior Airman Jason Couillard
A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command stages on a hasty landing zone during a tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel drill at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia on November 16.
US Marine Corps/Cpl. Akeel Austin
Gunnery Sgt. Dragos Coca engages targets during a desert survival and tactics course. Coca is a platoon sergeant with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Elements of the 15th MEU trained with the 5th Overseas Combined Arms Regiment in Djibouti from September 21 to October 7 in order to improve interoperability between the MEU and the French military.
US Marine Corps/Sgt. Steve H. Lopez
Two FA-18 Jets are displayed in front of the Wall of Fire during the Marine Corps Community Services-sponsored 2015 Air Show aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California, on October 3.
US Marine Corps Combat Camera/Cpl. Trever A. Statz
Marines train Malaysian Armed Forces on the M32 grenade launcher during a Non-lethal Weapons Executive Seminar on September 12. NOLES is an annual exercise hosted by US Marine Corps Forces, Pacific and is the US Pacific Command’s premier multilateral theater security cooperation event for nonlethal weapons.
US Marine Corps/Sgt. Erik Estrada
A Critical Skills Operator with US Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command uses a torch to cut through a metal door to gain entry on a building during Marine Special Operation School’s Master Breacher’s Course at Stone Bay aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on August 5. CSOs learn to overcome obstacles such as walls, fences, and doors using a range of breaching methods, including mechanical, ballistic, thermal, and explosive, during the course.
US Marine Corps/Sgt. Scott A. Achtemeier
Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Division run along hills during the Dark Horse Ajax Challenge aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California on August 20. The 8-mile course tested the Marines’ and sailors’ endurance and leadership skills with trials spread across the San Mateo area.
US Marine Corps/Cpl. Will Perkins
A family enjoys Gator Beach as an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is underway off the coast of Southern California on November 7.
US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Timothy M. Black
US Marines assigned to the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion observe the approach of amphibious assault vehicles (AAV) during well deck operations aboard amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset (LPD 25). Somerset is participating in Exercise Dawn Blitz 2015 (DB-15).
US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Vladimir Ramos
An MV-22 Osprey from Marine Medium Tilt Rotor Squadron (VMM) 166 (Reinforced) lands on the flight deck of the dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) to conduct a personnel transfer on October 22.
US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Zachary Eshleman
The US Navy flight-demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels, perform a high-speed diamond breakaway maneuver at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Air Show. The Blue Angels were scheduled to perform 68 demonstrations at 35 locations across the US in 2015.
U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nolan Kahn
‎ ‎US Army‬ Soldiers from Fires Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment conduct training with the M777 155 mm howitzer at Tactical Base Gamberi in Afghanistan on January 1.
US Army
US Army Soldiers, assigned to the Michigan National Guard secure a landing zone during an infiltration/exfiltration mission, part of Exercise Northern Strike at the Joint Maneuver Training Center at Camp Grayling in Michigan on July 23.
US Air Force/SSgt Matthew B. Fredericks
An Army Special Forces soldier salutes as he jumps out of a C-130 on February 24.
Flickr/The US Army
US Army soldiers, assigned to the Arkansas National Guard, pass through a breach cleared by a Mine Clearing Line Charge during Decisive Action Rotation 15-09 at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California on August 16.
US Army/Spc. Ashley Marble
An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the Swordsmen of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 32 lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) in November.
US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Patrick Dionne
A Marine scout sniper candidate with Scout Sniper Platoon, Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment looks through the scope of his rifle during a stalking exercise in the vicinity of SR-10 aboard Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on April 22.
US Marine Corps/Sgt. Austin Long
Lithuanian soldiers and US Marines from the Black Sea Rotational Force engaged opposition forces in a partnered attack during Exercise Saber Strike at the Pabrade Training Area in Lithuania on June 15. Fifteen nations and more than 7,000 service members took part in Saber Strike to promote security and cooperation in the region.
US Marine Corps/Sgt. Paul Peterson
Lance Cpl. Chance Seckenger with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, rides in a Combat Rubber Raiding Craft during launch and recovery drills from the well deck of the USS Green Bay, at sea, on July 9.
US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Brian Bekkala
A B-1B Lancer takes off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to conduct combat operations on April 8. Al Udeid is a strategic coalition air base in Qatar that supports over 90 combat and support aircraft and houses more than 5,000 military personnel.
US Air Force/Senior Airman James Richardson
Staff Sgt. Ryan Rogers, an Arctic Survival School instructor, guides students through wooded terrain in search of tender wood to build a fire on January 15. Rogers and other instructors teach students how to build fires, build thermalized A-frames, and create smoke generators for survival in arctic conditions.
Staff Sgt. Vernon Young Jr./USAF

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