than helicopters. What we found is it’s an analysis of the mission and the capability required, and once you pair the right asset to that mission, then that’s where you start to gain some real efficiencies on the battlefield. What do you expect the benefits as a wing commander to be when you have an all C-130J force? I think the reason we have begun a recapitalization for and within AFSOC is because our aircraft are old. We’ve got a detachment now of MC-130Ps that are in excess of 40 years old. So those aircraft needed to be recapitalized. And, when you start talking about the gunship capabilities that the AC-130J can bring on line, it’s a very good marriage of a Precision Strike Package that we see right now on the AC-130W, with capabilities that our legacy gunships bring with large caliber weapons. So, I’m very excited about bringing on board a bomb truck with guns that is able to both utilize a deep magazine with persistent fires alongside precision weapons.
Col. matthew WolfE Davidson – 24th SOW (Hurlburt Field, Florida) The 24th SOW is the newest and most unusual of AFSOC’s combat organizations. Created specifically to provide a winglevel home for AFSOC’s ST community and personnel, the 24th SOW is composed of AFSOC’s small but highly respected force of Combat Controllers and Pararescue Jumpers. Today, the 24th SOW is home to the most decorated collection of U.S. Air Force personnel since the end of the Vietnam War. The various Special Tactics Squadrons (STSs) of the 24th are among the most requested and tasked units in all of SOCOM. Col. Matthew Wolfe Davidson, has spent his entire Air Force career as a member of the ST community. Davidson is the second commander of the 24th SOW, and is hard at work standing up the various STSs that will represent the structure of his wing worldwide.
ABOVE: Staff Sgt. Stephen Petche, 10th Combat Weather Squadron, takes observations after
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releasing a weather balloon during a training exercise July 31, 2013, at the Eglin Range, Florida. Special Operations Weather Teams provide immediate and accurate weather information and forecasts deep behind enemy lines. OPPOSITE PAGE: Members from the 24th Special Operations Wing (SOW) conduct High Altitude Low Opening, or HALO, free fall proficiency training at Hurlburt Field, Florida, Feb. 7, 2014. With six Air Force Crosses, 30 Silver Stars, and a number of Bronze Stars with valor, the 24th SOW is the most decorated unit in the Air Force since the end of the Vietnam War.
U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Victoria Porto
The Year in Special Operations: You’ve been a part of the ST community for almost two decades now. What lessons did you learn along the way that you are applying today as commander of the 24th SOW? Col. Matthew Wolfe Davidson: I feel very honored that I was able to come in and stay in this community for the majority of my career. Having been able to spend that very significant amount of time at the squadron level, you gain a very close appreciation for the airmen that make this special – for the professionalism, the competence, the camaraderie, the commitment, and the sacrifice of the folks in the unit. As we move on and we gain different perspectives, it is sometimes easy to forget that. I think that very strong foundation has been very critical, and it drives all of my thinking every day. Because in the end, until you’ve had that opportunity to sit in these squadrons, see what these folks do and how hard they work, and what they and their families are willing to do for the nation over and over again, it’s very difficult to comprehend it. I would say that’s the basis of how I think. I really think about it from their level, the folks that fight and win wars for Special Tactics who are at the squadrons, and I use that as my grounding point for everything as I go forward.