[El Gato]

The 82nd Airborne Division alone requires over 1,500 C-141B sorties

What C-141Bs? Some have already been retired. The active duty fleet is scheduled to be retired by late this year or early next year. Guard and Reserve will get the "low mileage" birds, but will retire those by end of 2006, according to current plans. Some C-141 units have already stood down over the past year or two.

[Yasotay]

OK .... I am an old timer .... 1980s and 1990s .... I am out of the loop, but the point still stands. The USAF does not have much lift capacity. I bet capacity was even lost in the "exchange" of C-17 for C-141 ...