Virginia ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are operationally gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized.

Commonwealth missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of vital public services, and support to civil defense.

This activation temporarily resulted in the dissolution of the Virginia Air National Guard, as members were sent to various places, including for many, duty in the Korean War.

During 1971, the Virginia ANG was assigned the F-105D Thunderchief, a supersonic fighter-bomber that was the backbone of the USAF's fighter element during the Vietnam War.

The 192nd also earned the General Spruance Safety Award and was recognized as having had the best Operational Readiness Inspection in the Ninth Air Force during 1985.

During that operation between 1 December 1993 and 15 January 1994, ANG pilots patrolled the no-fly zone over northern Iraq to prevent Iraqi forces from inflicting damage on the villages of Kurdish minorities.

This was the first time Air National Guard units had been called to active duty to serve in a peacekeeping role in the Middle East, following Iraq's defeat in 1991.

With Pope designated to become a composite wing with several types of aircraft, ACC officials sought more efficient and economical ways of providing maintenance for its F-16 engines.

A 130-person detachment went to Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles as part of Operation Coronet Nighthawk, an effort to stop drug smuggling into the United States.

During the attacks on 9/11, two Virginia Air National Guard F-16C fighters were scrambled with live 20mm guns to intercept and recover Attorney General John Ashcroft to the Richmond International Airport and to respond as required to any known hijacked aircraft.

Eventually, the two fighters landed at Langley AFB and were of the first to be loaded with live missiles and flown in support of the newly created Operation Noble Eagle.

More than 400 ANG members were called to active duty for time frames ranging up to two years, marking a period of prolonged intensity at the Air Guard base unmatched since the Berlin call-up of 1961–62.

On 14 January 2004, a milestone was reached as the Propulsion section of the 192nd Maintenance Group completed assembly of the 300th jet engine since production started in 1994.

Guard members were given news about plans to relocate the unit to nearby Langley Air Force Base and the replacement of the F-16 with the F-22A Raptor.

Remaining base personnel solemnly attended the 'Stand-down' ceremony in the main hangar and watched as the unit flag was rolled-up by Col. Jay Pearsall and then put away.