U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Kenneth Valentine, from Puerto Rico, and a saxophone instrumentalist with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) Band, poses for a photo at Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field (MCALF) Bogue, North Carolina, Feb. 4. 2025. The 2nd MAW Band conducted a security force training exercise at MCLAF Bogue to increase the functionality, lethality, and efficiency of its Marines and ensure currency in its secondary mission of providing security for the 2nd MAW command post. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Rowdy Vanskike)
U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine regiment, 2nd Marine Division, board a KC-130J Super Hercules with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 252 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, Feb. 2, 2025. At the direction of the President of the United States to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense, U.S. military service members are supporting holding operations led by DHS at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Sgt. Rowdy Vanskike)
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), reactivated during a ceremony on Thursday aboard Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, North Carolina, following a four-year, seven-month hiatus.
VMFA-251, known as the “Thunderbolts” or “T-Bolts,” was previously deactivated during a ceremony on April 23, 2020, aboard MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina, after returning from deployment in 2020 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. The Thunderbolts’ deactivation concluded its 34 years as an F/A-18 Hornet squadron. The squadron was then relocated to MCAS Cherry Point to begin its transition to the F-35.
VMFA-251 received its first F-35C Lightning II Joint...
