I recently retired from the Royal Air Force after a career spanning 37 years which included a lot of time spent alongside personnel from all of the US Services whilst working at the tactical, operational and strategic levels.  My first experiences of US forces were operating the Tornado GR1 on US-led multi-national exercises, such as RED FLAG, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  Participation in such exercises proved very useful for the events of early 1991 when the Gulf War led to Combined Air Operations against Iraq.