Sitting on the tarmac at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado last week, the "Spirit of Go for Broke," a C-17 Globemaster III from Hickam Air Force Base, looked like any other of its kind.

The C-17 is one of eight aircraft jointly maintained and operated by both active duty and the Hawai'i Air National Guard at Hickam.

The "Spirit of Go for Broke" is headed to Iraq.

"We got an opportunity ... a mission ... a keeper mission coming all the way out of Hickam Air Force Base all the way into (Iraq)," said Master Sgt. Mike Cumberland, a loadmaster assigned to the 535th Airlift Squadron.

"It's a great opportunity to show our reach, our global mobility reach, and show Hickam Air Force Base can meet any challenges it is thrown."

The cargo plane's name is a tribute to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which fought in Europe in World War II, and was the most decorated unit in the history of the U.S. military for its size and length of service.

The unit was comprised of Japanese-American soldiers intent on proving their loyalty to the U.S. Many of their families were interned while they fought during the war.

To the members of the 442nd, "go for broke" meant to be all-in, for better or worse.

The mission of the C-17 "Go for Broke" actually began six hours and several thousand miles earlier when the four-engine jet, also known as Reach 5152, after its tail number, took off over the tip of O'ahu and turned for the Mainland.

In Colorado, the crew began onloading the first of two shipments of cargo bound for northern Iraq. Reach 5152 was expected to lift off and head out over the Colorado mountains bound for its midair refueling over Canada and then onto the remainder of its 10 1/2 hour flight to Germany.

In Germany, "Spirit of Go for Broke" will make one more crew stop before pushing into Iraq and beginning the first of two missions — the first to Mosul, the second to Baghdad.