An Airman from the 36th Airlift Squadron, Yokota Air Base, Japan, loads boxes of humanitarian assistants goods onto a C-130 Hercules prior to take-off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Dec. 14. This year more than 60 boxes will be dropped to 55 Island weighing in at more than 20,000 pounds. Operation Christmas Drop is the Air Force?s longest-running humanitarian which began in 1952. Airmen today continue the tradition delivering supplies to remote islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, Yap, Palau, Chuuk and Pohnpei. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Senior Airman Nichelle Anderson)