AFSOC Today:
The Wing Commanders Speak U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) is a fundamentally different kind of special operations force (SOF) from the other service component commands within U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). When a Special Forces (SF) team is pinned down by the enemy and needs precision air support, AFSOC Special Tactics (ST) personnel are the ones who do that job better than anyone else. Similarly, while the legendary 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment has a well-known ability to put personnel onto any spot in the world, plus or minus 30 seconds from time-ontarget, it is AFSOC MC-130 tanker/transports that make sure they have the airborne gas to actually reach and return from the selected landing zones (LZs). When a shot-down pilot needs to be rescued from behind enemy lines, AFSOC ST personnel are the ones who jump into the darkness and bring them home. AFSOC does all that, and a lot more. You need to reopen an airfield nearly wrecked by a massive earthquake? AFSOC ST did exactly that in Haiti several years ago, allowing desperately needed relief supplies, personnel, and capabilities to be delivered within a matter of hours.
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AFSOC is often referred to as an “enabling force,” and provides the rest of SOCOM (among many other military forces and organizations) the ability to get where they need to go, and do what they need to do. It is these kinds of skills and capabilities, not resident anywhere else within SOCOM, that make AFSOC an essential consideration in the planning of any special operation anywhere in the world. AFSOC is composed of dozens of active duty, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard units based around the globe. But the operational and combat power of the command resides within four Special Operations Wings (SOWs) and one Special Operations Group (SOG). These five units, and the four different bases they call home, represent a carefully structured organization designed to maximize the ability to deploy and operate, while making sure that their personnel and their dependents are cared for in a manner befitting some of America’s finest warriors. On this 25th anniversary of the standup of Air Force Special Operations Command, we spoke to the five commanding officers of these units to see what they had to say about what is special and unique about each of their commands.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Colville McFee
By John D. Gresham