Airman 1st Class Delmar Karnes, a loadmaster with the 777th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, observes the startup of a C-130 Hercules' engines here in the early morning of Sept. 3, 2008. Karnes, who is deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., was part of the aircrew that flew the 777th EAS' 25,000th combat sortie since beginning operations at Joint Base Balad in February 2006.