1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
War. A training squadron had been established at
Kirtland AFB (550th SOS) that was responsible
for the formal Combat Talon II School. The 711th
had converted to Combat Talon Is at Duke Field,
and eight Combat Talon Is had been assigned to
the AF Reserve unit. As 1996 approached AFSOC
had completed the major reorganization and basing
challenge brought on by the eruption of Mount
Pinatubo, objective wing directives, and relocation
actions required in Europe after the end of the
cold war. The latter half of the decade of the
1990s promised more stability as Air Force SOF
prepared for the Commando Vision-22 and the
twenty-first century.
Notes
1. History, 353d Special Operations Wing, 1 January–30
June 1991, vol. 1, 353d SOG historian file, Kadena AB, Japan,
vi.
2. Ibid., 5-3.1.
3. Ibid., iv.
4. Edward W. Wolfe, REPORT: The 1991 Eruptions of
Mount Pinatubo, Philippines ; on-line, Internet, n.d., available:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Pinatubo/Publications/
Wolfe/wolfe_report.html, 1–2.
5. Ibid., 3.
6. Ibid., 2.
7. Ibid., 4.
8. Terry Mallon, “If They Sacrificed Pigs, This Might Not
Have Happened . . .,” Combat Talon Archive, HQ AFSOC/HO,
Hurlburt Field, Fla., 3.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid., 3–4.
11. Ibid., 4.
12. Ibid., 5.
13. Ibid.
14. Wolfe, 4–5.
15. Ibid., 5.
16. Mallon, 6.
17. Wolfe, 5.
18. Mallon, 6–7.
19. Ibid., 7.
20. Maj Forrest L. Marion, “Ash Warriors: The Relocation
of the 353d Special Operations Wing, June–December 1991,”
HQ AFSOC/HO, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
21. Ibid.
22. Mallon, 9.
23. Marion.
24. Ibid.
25. History, 353d Special Operations Wing, 1 July–31 December
1991, vol. 1, 1st SOS History.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. History, 353d Special Operations Group, 1 January–31
December 1992, vol. 1.
31. History, 39th Special Operations Wing, 1 July–31 December
1991, HQ AFSOC/HO, Hurlburt Field, Fla., vol. 1, xiii.
32. Ibid., 27.
33. Ibid., 40.
34. Ibid., 40–41.
35. Ibid., 41.
36. Ibid., 43.
37. History, 1st Special Operations Wing, 1 January–31
December 1991, 16th Special Operations Wing historian file,
Hurlburt Field, Fla., vol. 1, 63.
38. Ibid.
39. Ibid., 77.
40. Ibid., 76.
41. Ibid., 62.
42. History, 1st Special Operations Wing, 1 January–31
December 1992, vol. 4, supporting document 79.
43. History, 1st Special Operations Wing, 1 January–31
December 1992, vol. 1, 9.
44. Ibid., 14.
45. Ibid., 14–19.
46. Ibid., 19–21.
47. Ibid., 21.
48. Ibid., 24–29.
49. Ibid., 33.
50. Ibid., 3.
51. Ibid., 173.
52. History, 1st Special Operations Wing, 1 January–31
December 1992, vol. 2, supporting document 7.
53. Ibid., supporting document 8.
54. Ibid.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. History, 1st Special Operations Wing, 1 January–31
December 1992, vol. 4, supporting document 78.
58. Ibid.
59. History, 1st Special Operations Wing, 1 January–31
December 1992, vol. 1, 195.
60. History, 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing, 1 January–
30 June 1990, USAF HRA, Maxwell AFB, Ala., vol. 1, 21.
61. History, 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing, 1
July–31 December 1990, USAF HRA, Maxwell AFB, Ala., 1
July–31 December 1990, vol. 1, 50.
62. History, 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing, 1
July–30 September 1991; and 542d Crew Training Wing, 1
October 1991–31 December 1992, USAF HRA, Maxwell AFB,
Ala., vol. 1, 30.
63. History, 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing, 1
July–30 September 1991, vol. 2, 4–5.
64. Ibid., xx.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid., xx–xxi.
67. History, 353d Special Operations Group, 1 January–31
December 1992, vol. 1, 19.
68. Ibid., 30.
69. Ibid., 19.
70. Ibid., 30.
71. Ibid., xii.
72. Ibid., 41.
73. Ibid., xiii.
74. History, 39th Special Operations Wing, 1 January–1
December 1992, vol. 1, xi.
75. Ibid., 26.
76. Ibid., 75–76.
77. Ibid., 69–70.
78. Ibid., 70–71.
79. Ibid., 72.
80. Ibid., 90–91.
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