The 777th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, celebrated its achievements during a flightline closeout ceremony on 6 May 2011. More than 150 unit members attended the ceremony. The 777th EAS is the most forward deployed C-130 airlift unit in the Iraqi theater of operations. The squadron, known as the Dueling Dragons, began operations from Balad in February 2006. Since then, the Dueling Dragons operated rotational C-130E, H1, and H3 model-aircraft to airlift more than 500,000 passengers, 79,000 tons of cargo and have executed 43,000 airlift sorties. The squadron recorded a ninety-two percent mission ready rate and a ninety-nine percent mission completion rate while in Iraq. The squadron was officially deactivated on 15 May.
