Believe it or not, U.S. Air Force rarely uses the commercial airlines staging technique to get the most out of their aircraft. Staging means having replacement aircrews ready for aircraft that are making very long flights (like half way around the planet, like from North America to the Persian Gulf.) Now the air force is stationing crews at the half way point between the US and Persian Gulf destinations. Thus, instead of halting aircraft and their crews at the half way point, the crew gets off the C-17 or C-5, a new crew gets on and the aircraft continues on without losing 12-24 hours of flight time.