501st Parachute Infantry Regiment gets a piece of Talisman Saber 2011.

All Photos by Master Sgt. Michele Desrochers 

U.S. soldiers of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska, parachute out of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft into the Shoalwater Bay Training Area during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2011 July 17, 2011. Talisman Sabre 2011 is an exercise designed to train U.S. and Australian forces to plan and conduct Combined Task Force operations to improve combat readiness and interoperability on a variety of missions from conventional conflict to peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance efforts.

Members of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska, move out of a drop zone and set up a security perimeter after parachuting out of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft into the Shoalwater Bay Training Area during Talisman Saber 2011, July 17. Talisman Saber 2011 is an exercise designed to train U.S. and Australian forces to plan and conduct Combined Task Force operations to improve combat readiness and interoperability on a variety of missions from conventional conflict to peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance efforts.

A U.S. Army soldier assigned to 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska, moves out of the drop zone after parachuting from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in Shoalwater Bay Training Area during exercise Talisman Saber 2011, July 17. Talisman Saber 2011 is an exercise designed to train U.S. and Australian forces to plan and conduct Combined Task Force operations to improve combat readiness and interoperability on a variety of missions from conventional conflict to peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance efforts.

U.S. Army Sgt. Eugene Baca from Geronimo, Okla., with 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska, moves out of the drop zone after parachuting from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft into the Shoalwater Bay Training Area during exercise Talisman Saber 2011, July 17. Talisman Saber 2011 is an exercise designed to train U.S. and Australian forces to plan and conduct Combined Task Force operations to improve combat readiness and interoperability on a variety of missions from conventional conflict to peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance efforts.

U.S. soldiers with 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska, move out of the drop zone and set up a security perimeter after parachuting from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft into the Shoalwater Bay Training Area during Talisman Saber 2011, July 17. Talisman Saber 2011 is an exercise designed to train U.S. and Australian forces to plan and conduct Combined Task Force operations to improve combat readiness and interoperability on a variety of missions from conventional conflict to peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance efforts.

U.S. soldiers of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska, parachute out of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft into the Shoalwater Bay Training Area during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2011 July 17, 2011. Talisman Sabre 2011 is an exercise designed to train U.S. and Australian forces to plan and conduct Combined Task Force operations to improve combat readiness and interoperability on a variety of missions from conventional conflict to peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance efforts.