Firefighters from the Michigan Air National Guard’s Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center and the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing respond to a request for mutual-aid support at a large structure fire in downtown Alpena, Michigan, July 21, 2020. The fire protection specialists had been supporting exercise Northern Strike 20, the National Guard’s premier annual joint fires readiness event, shifting quickly to assist the response when called upon by local authorities. Northern Strike is a National Guard Bureau-sponsored exercise that provides readiness building opportunities for units from all services to achieve or sustain proficiency in conducting mission command, air, sea, and ground maneuver integration, and the synchronization of fires in a joint, multinational, decisive-action environment.