When I first moved to Syracuse in 1987, the NY Air Nat Guard there flew A10's, you'd see them flying around a lot. Known as "The Boys From Syracuse". They had a firing range upstate, but I never got to see anything. After a few years they switched to F16's. I "heard" those F16's had gun pods with the GAU-8 gun in them, but I never saw any proof or heard it again.