Special Tactics operators with the 17th STS, 24th Special Operations Wing, Air Force Special Operations Command, deploy with special operations forces to provide joint terminal attack control and maximize the impacts of air power by controlling and directing precise strikes to destroy the enemy. The squadron's primary mission is to provide special tactics Tactical Air Control Party Specialists (TACP) to the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment for unconventional operations.[2][3]
Organization
The 17th STS is made up of a headquarters unit and two operational detachments. The headquarters unit is stationed at Fort Moore, Georgia. Detachment 1 (Red Team) is stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia and is attached to 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.[4] Detachment 2 (Silver Team) is stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington and is attached to the 2d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.[5]
The squadron is primarily made up of TACP airmen. In addition to the TACPs in the unit, there are special reconnaissance airmen, combat controllers, special tactics officers, and combat mission support airmen.[6]
Each detachment consists of 13 TACPs and one Tactical Air Control Party officer (TACP-O).
^Savage, Craig (28 August 2013). "24th SOW re-designates 17th ASOS". 24th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
^"24th Special Operations Wing". 24th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs Office. 20 February 2015. Archived from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
Col. John T. Carney Jr.; Benjamin F. Schemmer (2003). No Room for Error: The Covert Operations of America's Special Tactics Units from Iran To Afghanistan. Presidio Press. ISBN978-0345453358.