U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Brent Whipple, 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, salutes an F-15E Strike Eagle after marshaling during the U.S. Air Force Weapons School mission employment exercise, Dec. 6, 2011, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The two-week-long mission employment phase is the final part of a five-and-a-half-month Weapons School graduate course that showcases the students newly acquired skills to test their ability to plan, execute and lead complex missions.