More than 175 members of the 113th Wing, District of Columbia Air National Guard, deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, starting on 10 October 2011 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots, maintenance crews, and other support personnel departed in three stages. Air National Guard units nationwide support deployment operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the 113th Wing—dubbed the Capital Guardians—has a NORAD mission to provide air defense for the National Capital Region. Even with the deployment, the unit is tasked to maintain a constant response presence in the Washington area, which includes several pilots and maintenance crews standing by for an alert call and ready to launch F-16s with live weapons at any time.
