EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska  –   As the sun melts the snow on the sides of the highways, a new season begins. In Fairbanks, Alaska, this means 70 degrees and outside activities in the great outdoors. It also means trash is left where snow once blanketed the roads. The 168th Wing, Alaska Air National Guard, has a long-standing tradition of cleaning up the highways and beautifying Alaska, the state the wing members call home.

“I feel it is important to our community not only as Alaska Air Guard members but as Alaska State citizens to take pride and ownership of our Great State—by volunteering to clean up our roadways and environment it is our way of doing so,” said Master Sgt Ricardo Cardines, 168th Wing Maintenance Group. “Thank you to all who participated.”

The 168th Top 3 Organization recently took to the highway and picked up trash, accumulating 40 bags and 30 pounds of debris.

The 168th Wing Top 3 organization is made up of Senior Non-Commissioned Officers serving in the Alaska Air National Guard. They serve in various Air Force specialty careers such as security forces, aircraft maintenance, finance, force support, administrators, and logistics and make up the team supporting the KC-135 Stratoranker air refueling mission and the Space and missile warning mission.

The Wing members serve on the mission and in their communities to help improve where they live, work, and where their children attend school and grow up.

The adopt-a-highway is a well-known program in many states, including Alaska. The 168th Wing Top 3 Organization adopted a section on the Richardson Highway miles down from the base and close to the community the wing lives and plays in with their families.

The annual spring clean-up is a tradition for members here at the wing. The 168th Logistics Readiness Squadron has the longest-running Adopt-A-Highway in the northern region, established in 1992.