Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Airman Elena Gurule of Santa Fe, assigned to the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America, signals an F-35B Lightning from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit on the ship’s flight deck. America, lead ship of the America Amphibious Ready Group, 31st MEU team, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations as a ready response force in the Indo-Pacific region.