following the seizure of kuwait by iraqi forces in august 1990, the air force turned to both of its reserve components for help and was swamped with volunteers. before president george h. w. bush mobilized reservists and national guardsmen on 22 august 1990, nearly 1,300 air national guardsmen actually entered active duty as volunteers. initially, most of them concentrated on aerial refueling and airlifting american forces to the persian gulf region. the first two ang units to volunteer before the president's mobilization order were the 105th military airlift group of the new york air national guard, and the 172d military airlift group of the mississippi air national guard. respectively, they flew the c-5a galaxy and the c-141b starlifter.