Military.com’s Top 10 Photos of the Year

An Air Force Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during a test at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, in a show of nuclear readiness as U.S. near-peer adversaries flexed their assets this year as well. (Airman 1st Class Ryan Quijas/U.S. Air Force photo)

An Air Station Kodiak C-130J Super Hercules airplane prepares to depart on a runway in Bethel, Alaska. (Lt. Scott Kellerman/U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Ensign Lonni Williams meets his newborn child for the first time after completing a seven-month deployment aboard amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52).

A sailor holds up his child for the first time after deploying on the USS Pearl Harbor for seven months. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Melvin Fatimehin/U.S. Navy photo)

Senior Airman Jansen Esteves, 436th Aerial Port Squadron special handler, verifies shipment information for supplies bound for Ukraine during a foreign military sales mission at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

A U.S. airman inspects supplies bound for Ukraine during Russia’s renewed invasion into the country this year. Since 2014, the United States has sent roughly $22.1 billion in security assistance to the country, 87% of which has been committed since late February when Russia initiated its latest invasion. (Staff Sgt. Marco A. Gomez/U.S. Air Force photo)

Recruits spray a hose into a simulated fire during a firefighting training exercise inside the USS Chief Fire Fighter Trainer at Recruit Training Command.

Recruits spray a hose into a simulated fire during a training exercise inside the Navy’s USS Chief Fire Fighter Trainer. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christopher M. O’Grady/U.S. Navy photo)

A U.S. M1A2 Abrams fires during the 2022 Sullivan Cup at the Army Armor School on Fort Benning, Ga.

An M1A2 Abrams fires a 120mm round at a target during the 2022 Sullivan Cup, a competition held at Fort Benning, Georgia, that puts the best tank crews across the country — and even around the world — to the test. (Spc. Joshua Taeckens/U.S. Army photo)

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan Neylon, a 60mm mortar section leader (left); Lance Cpl. Isaiah Foshay, a 60mm mortar gunner; and Lance Cpl. Joseph Cucchira, a 60mm mortar assistant gunner with 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, stand by for a fire mission during their Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California.

A Marine 60mm mortar team stands by for a fire mission under a starry California sky. (Lance Cpl. Cedar Barnes/U.S. Marine Corps photo)

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Thomas C. Kinser, military working dog handler, Provost Marshal Office, Security Battalion, gives his military working dog Faro a bath on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.

A Marine canine handler gives military working dog Faro a bath. Handlers routinely groom their canine partners — including bathing, blow-drying and brushing — to make sure they are clean and healthy. (Lance Cpl. Kayla LaMar/U.S. Marine Corps photo)

Naval Special Warfare members perform a high-altitude low opening jump, during the 2022 Arctic Edge Exercise.

Naval Special Warfare members perform a high-altitude low opening jump in the Arctic. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Trey Hutcheson/U.S. Navy photo)

Aerial photography of Section 18 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.

An aerial photo of Arlington National Cemetery, Section 18. (Elizabeth Fraser/U.S. Army photo)

— Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence.

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