Let's drop the screw ups and just focus on the assumption you have a solid crew force. If you'd like a hedge, check sortie rates/hours/mishaps- you have to be in the game to get injured in the game.

C-5- if it's up flying, it's a crew-comfort Winnebago. It had better be, you all pounded the ramp for time equal to a C-17 average mission before getting airborne. Hope the F/E didn't break a good plane or push to fly a bad one. They finally put some 1980s engines into a 1960s aircraft and pretend they created a masterpiece. Well, welcome to the 1980s, which is about usually where the C-17 shortcomings arose.

C-130- Workhorse- always, always will be. The C-47/DC-3 follow on. If we get to fly back from the boneyard when our last planes' park, it'd be on a C-130. Hopefully the air conditioning works, if installed at all.

Tanker- well, it's a tanker. Sometimes you, the man, or your customer/s do not want you to stop along the way. It's just a tool in the bag. Have fun with it. I thought the new C-5 could go East Coast to Iraq w/ a good payload and not hit a tanker? Not great for crew rest plans, but impressive and no tanker req'd.

C-17- a hoot. Just not for hobbyists. I've had 19 on a "crew" or flight authorization or set of 781s, but that was to drag a CJCS around. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun- so I'd do it again. SECDEF support was lighter travel, and it wasn't a nice crew rest every other stop like the CJCS. Burns a lot of gas per mile, flexibility isn't free, and it's over-built compared to a civilian cargo airframe. You can land at max takeoff weight. You can carry a tank on 170' wingspan. Not a lot of room when she's full, a little courtesy goes a long way. Could sum it up simply in "scoreboard".

C-17 Driver- Don't you need to update your avatar message?