1 - The Black Vault

ROAD TO COMBAT TALON II
proposal. The details of the reorganization plan
were not officially released until August 1986. At
that time General Patterson signed out a letter
with an attachment titled, “The Basis of Forward
Look, Reorganizing the Twenty-Third AF.” Although
Patterson’s letter served as the official announcement,
it did not provide details of the timetable
for implementation. 47 For the three Combat
Talon squadrons, the reorganization provided the
possibility of greater support (especially in the
overseas units), with emphasis on command and
control and the maintenance area.
While MAC and the Twenty-Third AF developed
Forward Look, Congress continued to debate
the reorganization of SOF. By May 1986 Senator
Cohen, with cosponsorship by Sen. Sam Nunn,
introduced Senate bill S. 2453, and the following
month Daniel introduced House bill H. R. 5109.
Many of the key provisions of those two bills later
would form the basis for the defense authoriza -
tion bill that was signed into law on 14 October
1986. The final bill passed in October directed the
formation of a unified command for SOF (the US
Special Operations Command), created the Office
of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special
Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, and established
a coordinating board for low-intensity conflict
within the National Security Council. 48
Perhaps the most far-reaching provision of the
October legislation was the creation of Major
Force Program (MFP) 11. Before this legislation,
there were only 10 MFPs, and SOF funding was
provided by the services from those funds. All
three services had a poor record of accomplishment
for funding SOF. The acquisition of the
Combat Talon II was an example of how the Air
Force ignored an SOF program that was desired by
Congress while funding conventional core requirements
instead. Representative Daniel had made
his case for separate SOF funding in his article
the previous August proposing a sixth service. In
defense of the services, SOF programs were
funded throughout each service’s POM, and the
relatively small expenditures for SOF had often
been lumped with larger programs within each
service. It was extremely difficult for the services
to manage SOF funding with this disjointed (for
SOF) system in place. Consolidation under MFP
11 made funds visible to both Congress and to the
services, and it provided a measure of protection
against spending SOF dollars for non-SOF items.
With the passage of the defense authorization bill,
Congress passed into law the requirement to reorganize
SOF. It would take another two years,
however, before the new US Special Operations
Command would be established and operational
at MacDill AFB, Florida. 49
With congressional action directing SOF reorganization
signed into law, MAC’s Forward Look
initiative put the command on track to fulfill Congress’s
mandate within the Air Force. A Headquarters
MAC/XPP point paper, dated 31 December
1986, reviewed the reorganization and listed
the reasons MAC supported the initiative. Forward
Look would reduce command layers below
the Twenty-Third AF by inactivating the 2d AD
at Hurlburt Field, and it would establish in-thea -
ter wings in Europe and in the Pacific. It would
also align combat units by location rather than by
mission and by region where they were expected
to be employed. The paper concluded that Forward
Look created a command structure that
could absorb future growth, including the Combat
Talon II. In early January 1987 final Air Staff approval
of Forward Look was received, and a public
announcement was made shortly afterwards. On
20 January 1987 Special Order GA-49 was published,
thus putting Forward Look into motion.
The 2d AD was inactivated, the USAF Special Operations
School was reassigned from 2d AD to the
Twenty-Third AF, the 1st SOS was reassigned
from 2d AD to the Twenty-Third AF, the 7th SOS
was reassigned from 2d AD to the 39th ARRW at
Eglin AFB, and the 1st SOW (including the 8th
SOS) was reassigned from 2d AD to the Twenty-
Third AF; all effective on 1 February 1987. 50
Included in the January announcement were
plans to move the Headquarters Twenty-Third
AF, from Scott AFB, Illinois, to Hurlburt Field
and to colocate with the 1st SOW. The headquarters
would transfer 177 military and 29 civilian
positions. On 1 April 1987 USSOCOM was activated
at MacDill AFB, Florida, with General
Lindsay, USA, commander in chief. On 30 July
1987 General Patterson issued a statement concerning
his understanding of the new relationships
among MAC, USSOCOM, the other unified
commands, and Headquarters, Twenty-Third AF.
In the statement Patterson unofficially designated
the Twenty-Third AF as the Air Force Special
Operations Command and recognized its
status as the air component of USSOCOM. On 1
August 1987 the Twenty-Third AF officially
moved to Hurlburt Field, and a flag-raising ceremony
was held marking the establishment of the
new organization in the heart of USAF special
operations. 51 * * * * * *
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