The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commissioned officers and enlisted airmen.
Hurlburt Field is a United States Air Force installation located in Okaloosa County, Florida, immediately west of the Town of Mary Esther. It is part of the greater Eglin Air Force Base reservation, and is home to Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the 1st Special Operations Wing (1 SOW), the USAF Special Operations School (USAFSOS) and the Air Combat Command's (ACC) 505th Command and Control Wing. It was named for First Lieutenant Donald Wilson Hurlburt, who died in a crash at Eglin. The installation is nearly 6,700 acres (27 km2), and employs nearly 8,000 military personnel.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF). The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the USAF to indicate their human ground controllers. The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance. In 2006, the then–Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General T. Michael Moseley said: "We've moved from using UAVs primarily in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance roles before Operation Iraqi Freedom, to a true hunter-killer role with the Reaper."
The unit is one of the oldest units in the United States Air Force, being formed on 25 September 1917 at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. During World War I, the unit was part of the Balloon Section, American Expeditionary Forces, becoming the first American balloon company to reach the Western Front in France and enter combat. The 2d thus holds the distinction among all USAF units of being "the first complete American air unit in history to operate against an enemy on foreign soil."[3]
Fort Omaha, originally known as Sherman Barracks and then Omaha Barracks, is an Indian War-era United States Army supply installation. Located at 5730 North 30th Street, with the entrance at North 30th and Fort Streets in modern-day North Omaha, Nebraska, the facility is primarily occupied by Metropolitan Community College. A Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve unit, along with an Army Reserve unit occupy the periphery of the 82.5 acres (33.4 ha) fort. The government deeded all but four parcels of the land to the community college in 1974.
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
The American Expeditionary Forces was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The AEF was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing. It fought alongside French Army, British Army, Canadian Army, and Australian Army units against the German Empire. A minority of the AEF troops also fought alongside Italian Army units in that same year against the Austro-Hungarian Army. The AEF helped the French Army on the Western Front during the Aisne Offensive in the summer of 1918, and fought its major actions in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the latter part of 1918.
It was part of the Army Balloon School after the war, being a balloon training unit until the beginning of World War II. It was later part of the Strategic Air Command during the Cold War.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense (DoD) Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command (MAJCOM), responsible for Cold War command and control of two of the three components of the U.S. military's strategic nuclear strike forces, the so-called "nuclear triad," with SAC having control of land-based strategic bomber aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs.
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union with its satellite states, and the United States with its allies after World War II. A common historiography of the conflict begins with 1946, the year U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan's "Long Telegram" from Moscow cemented a U.S. foreign policy of containment of Soviet expansionism threatening strategically vital regions, and ending between the Revolutions of 1989 and the 1991 collapse of the USSR, which ended communism in Eastern Europe. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars.
History
World War I
The unit was initially formed at Fort Omaha, Nebraska as Company B, 2d Balloon Squadron on 25 September 1917 at the Fort Omaha Balloon School. Its mission was to provide forward observations for the artillery. The unit trained in the fall of 1917, one of the last, as training was rather difficult at Fort Omaha: the weather was bad much of the time, and it was impossible to keep balloons in the air for long periods. The Army decided they needed Balloon Schools in warmer, more stable, environments and selected Camp John Wise in San Antonio, Texas and Camp Ross, Arcadia, California.[4] On 30 November, orders were received for the unit to proceed to the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, Long Island, for preparation to serve overseas.[5]
Camp John Wise is a former United States Army military garrison, located in San Antonio, Texas. During World War I it was used as a training field for the U. S. Army Balloon Corps between 1917 until 1919.
Ross Field is a former World War I military airfield, located 0.8 miles (1.3 km) south-southwest of Arcadia, California. It was one of thirty-two Air Service, United States Army training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917. It operated as a training field between 1918 until 1919.
On 7 December, the squadron, now designated the 2d Balloon Company, boarded a train and proceeded to Saint John, New Brunswick, Newfoundland where it boarded the RMSTunisian for the crossing of the Atlantic. It left on 12 December and arrived at Liverpool, England on Christmas Day. From there, the company traveled by train to Southampton on the English Channel coast and boarded the steamer Archangel for Le Havre, France, arriving on 28 December. It reported to the American Expeditionary Force Balloon School at Camp de Coetquidan, Morbihan, France, on 3 January 1918.[6]
A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force. Land based squadrons equipped with heavier type aircraft such as long-range bombers, or cargo aircraft, or air refueling tankers have around 12 aircraft as a typical authorization, while most land-based fighter equipped units have an authorized number of 18 to 24 aircraft.
Saint John is the coastal port city of the Bay of Fundy in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The port is Canada’s third largest port by tonnage with a cargo base that includes dry and liquid bulk, break bulk, containers, and cruise. In 2016, after more than 40 years of population decline, the city became the second most populous city in the province for the first time, with a population of 67,575 over an area of 315.82 square kilometres (121.94 sq mi). The Saint John metropolitan area covers a land area of 3,362.95 square kilometres (1,298.44 sq mi) across the Caledonia Highlands, with a population of 126,202. After the partitioning of the colony of Nova Scotia in 1784, the new colony of New Brunswick was thought to be named 'New Ireland' with the capital to be in Saint John before being vetoed by Britain's King George III. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada. During the reign of George III, the municipality was created by royal charter in 1785.
Liverpool is a city in North West England, with an estimated population of 491,500 in 2017. Its metropolitan area is the fifth-largest in the UK, with a population of 2.24 million in 2011. The local authority is Liverpool City Council, the most populous local government district in the metropolitan county of Merseyside and the largest in the Liverpool City Region.
: Close-up view of an American major in the basket of an observation balloon flying near front lines
At the school, the company received French Caquot (U.S. Type R) observation balloons. It was trained on the equipment by members of the French Army, and, on 23 January, the first trial ascents with an observer in the basket were made. The company sent members to the front lines and operated under French control, making artillery adjustments for the 101st, 102, 149th and 150th French Artillery Regiments. Finally, on 29 February, training was ended and the 2d Balloon Company was ordered to report to the First Army at Toul, arriving on 1 March, joining the French encampment of the 90th French Balloon Company at Camp L'Emitage, near Menil-la-Tour. It was the first American balloon company to reach the Western Front and enter combat.[6]
An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War I, and they continue in limited use today.
The First Army is the oldest and longest established field army of the United States Army, having seen service in both World War I and World War II, under some of the most famous and distinguished officers of the U.S. Army. It now serves as a mobilization, readiness and training command.
Toul is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.
The first observer of the company to be decorated was 1st Lieutenant Sidney Howell, when on 16 March, he was forced to jump from a burning balloon set on fire by enemy aircraft. He received a Croix de Guerre with palm. During the Chateu-Thierry operations, the company took a very active part, following the advance of Allied troops moving frequently as the front moved up. Frequently the balloons were attacked and set on fire by enemy aircraft, observers jumping and landing safely.[6] The company took part in the St. Mihiel and Muse-Argonne offensives during 1918, making a total of 180 ascensions with 13 observers. The missions being hazardous with 9 balloons being shot down, however no squadron members were killed or wounded in action.[6]
With the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the company was reassigned to the Third Army and ordered to report to Trier-Euren, Germany, in the Rhineland and performed occupation duty along the Rhine River. It remained with Third Army until 20 May until being relieved and ordered to return to the United States. After processing at the 1st Air Depot, Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome, France, the unit reported first to a staging area, then to a port for the return home.[7]
The 2d Balloon Company arrived at the Port of New York on 22 June 1919 on the USS Patria and transferred to Mitchel Field, New York, c. 23 June 1919, where the men were demobilized and returned to civilian life.[8]
Inter-war period
Type "R" observation balloon at Arcadia Balloon School, Arcadia, California, 1921
On 11 August 1919, the company was transferred to Ross Field, Arcadia, California without personnel or equipment. The unit was reorganized on 1 October 1921 and redesignated as the Air ServiceBalloon School Detachment. However, the Air Service decided to close Ross Field due to the Santa Ana winds, which blew in from the desert. These winds created much havoc with the aerial observation, ground training, and balloon handling. The detachment was disbanded and the remaining equipment left over from the war and some men were sent to Brooks Field, Texas.[4] The unit was demobilized on 21 May 1922.[8][1]
A new 2d Balloon Company was constituted in the Regular Army on 18 October 1927, as part of the 26th Balloon Group at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The company was assigned to the Army's Eighth Corps Area, however it was not activated. The designation was transferred to the Sixth Corps Area on 1 September 1928, before being organized at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on 29 May 1930.[8] The unit was equipped with type C-3 observation balloons as well as type A-6 and A-7 spherical balloons. It was consolidated with its World War I predecessor unit on 6 August 1930.[1]
At Fort Bragg, the unit was redesignated the 2d Balloon Squadron on 1 October 1933, and equipped with C-6 observation balloons in 1938.[1] It supported activities of the Coast Artillery Barrage Balloon Training Center at Camp Davis, North Carolina, 1940-41.[8] Aircraft reconnaissance technology was making the manned observation balloon obsolete by 1940; the unit was last assigned on 1 September 1941 to I Air Support Command of First Air Force at Pope Field, before being disbanded on 3 February 1942 shortly after the Pearl Harbor Attack.[1]
Strategic Air Command
In its early years, along with its own fighter wings for escorting its bombers, Strategic Air Command (SAC) formed a limited air transport capability to supplement that of the Military Air Transport Service, which provided SAC with the majority of its airlift support. The 2d Strategic Support Squadron was organized and activated on 14 January 1949 at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, where it drew its cadre from the 1st Strategic Support Squadron, which had moved to Biggs the previous month.[9] The squadron was assigned directly to SAC's Eighth Air Force, but was attached to the host wing at Biggs, the 97th Bombardment Wing.[1]
Initially flying Douglas C-54 Skymasters, the squadron carried much classified equipment and personnel to various locations around the world. During the 1950s the squadron operated from several SAC bases in various locations and was upgraded to the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II intercontinental airlifter in 1950. The squadron was inactivated on 15 June 1961 when SAC divested itself of its organic transport aircraft and transferred the mission back to MATS. In September 1985, the two squadrons were consolidated as the 2d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, but the consolidated squadron remained inactive.[1]
Unmanned vehicle operations
The squadron was reactivated in the reserve as the Second Special Operations Squadron in 2009. With its history of being a combat reconnaissance unit, the squadron was assigned modern General Atomics MQ-1 Predatorunmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The 2d became the first Air Force reserve squadron to assume command of a UAV combat air patrol - a 24/7 orbit over a critical area of a combat zone.[10]
The 2d was originally established as a classic associate squadron with a bit of a twist. It was initially located at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, geographically separated from both its parent unit, the 919th Special Operations Wing at Duke Field, Florida, and its host associate unit, the Regular Air Force's 3rd Special Operations Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. It is also geographically separated from the aircraft it operates, as all of the aircraft the squadron operates are owned by the active-duty unit, and all are deployed in combat areas.[10] In 2014, the squadron relocated to its current home of Hurlburt Field, Florida, concurrent with its transition to the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper.[11]
Like many other UAV squadrons, the 2d is composed of people with a wide range of aircraft experience in addition to the MQ-1 and MQ-9: AC-130 gunships, MC-130 Combat Talons, A-10s, Marine Corps AV-8 Harriers, Navy F-14s, F-15s, F-16s, Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18s, F-22s and bombers, tankers, airlifters, and even helicopters.[10]
Lineage
2d Balloon Company
Organized as Company B, 2d Balloon Squadron on 25 September 1917
Redesignated 2d Balloon Company on 19 June 1918
Redesignated Balloon School Detachment on 30 August 1921
Demobilized on 15 August 1922
Reconstituted and consolidated with the 2d Balloon Company (active) on 6 August 1930[1]
2d Balloon Squadron
Constituted on 18 October 1927
Activated on 20 May 1930
Consolidated with the 2d Balloon Company (disbanded 1922) on 6 August 1930
Redesignated 2d Balloon Squadron on 1 October 1933
Disbanded on 3 February 1942
Reconstituted and consolidated with the 2d Strategic Support Squadron as the 2d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron on 19 September 1985[1]
2d Special Operations Squadron
Constituted as the 2d Strategic Support Squadron on 31 December 1948
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DesChenes, Richard E. (2013). The Insignia, Uniforms & Equipment of the U. S. Army Balloon Corps: 1917-1922 (Second ed.). Self published. ISBN978-0615188386.
Gorrell, Col. Edgar S. (1974). History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Series F: Balloon Section. Vol. 1 History of the Balloon Section, American Expeditionary Forces. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. OCLC215070705.
History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Series O: Weekly statistical reports on progress of Air Service Activities, October 1918-May 1919. Vol. 29. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. 1974. OCLC215070705.
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