From my 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, I spent four years with a unit responsible for actions not attributed to them in newspapers or magazines. The men and women of this unit did their jobs with a quiet professionalism romanticized (usually fictionally) in movies and stories. Operations carried out by this unit were discussed in secure rooms, accessible only by a select few. Situation reports released to the public were heavily sanitized to protect those involved. Stories of their exploits were minimized, details were blurred, and recognition was generic. These men, however, were responsible for some of the most dangerous, effective, and heroic actions that have occurred since the start of the War on Terror.

The origins of today’s Air Force Special Operations units trace back to World War II. The units were not founded in ceremony or some general’s desire to have a legacy. They were founded in cooperation. Cooperation between members of the Army Air Forces who needed to make an impact on Axis forces without the bureaucracy involved in normal operations.

The “Carpetbaggers” of the Air Force

Two men, John Alison and Phil Cochran, clandestinely worked with British forces in the Pacific theater to conduct operations behind Japanese enemy lines. The British forces learned that these Americans could take their aircraft behind the lines, destroy their targets, and get back out. If they were not successful the first time, they would take whatever equipment they had at their disposal and make it work to complete their objectives. These men conducted operations unheard of in the war. While they operated against Japanese targets, others like them were harassing Axis forces in Europe. These men became known as the “Carpetbaggers.”

Green eyes, black rifles, July 18, 2014. Transformed – Drdruxen

The men who fought with the Carpetbaggers possessed skills unknown to the men they fought for. With the ability to somehow attack and harass the enemy from the rear, they struck fear into the minds of the Axis. 

The units’ creation arose from a need to protect those who could not protect themselves. They had no meetings to determine who they were, or what or how they did it. There were simply men who saw a need and became the tools required to address it. Thus, these Carpetbaggers were born, to combat those who would perpetrate atrocity on the world. 

Officially, these units of special operators were disbanded after the war’s end. Unofficially, these men stayed active, training and preparing for when they would once again be needed to clandestinely protect American interests and those who couldn’t do so themselves. They operated behind the scenes during the Korean War and with indigenous fighters during Vietnam. Meanwhile, these mythical figures developed aircraft configurations that supported their needs and ways to employ whatever forces were available in the most effective ways. They were not well known outside their own circles and not at all to the public as a whole. Though their exploits were not publicized and their names were not known, their myth grew within the military community.   

AF Cross Train. Policy changes allow Airmen to retrain into special operations, October 21, 2014. (Photo by 1st Lt. Katrina Cheesman)

A Group of Airmen Who Set Themselves Apart

The Air Commandos built themselves on a clan basis rather than on military hierarchy. This reliance on the idea of “us and them” made the Air Commandos an insular group. The more they relied on one another’s skills and abilities, the more they were able to employ those abilities. Rather than an organization that took its orders and plans from an overseeing command structure, these commandos were decentralized and relied on their own innovations and ideas to conduct operations. They did not conform to the standard hierarchical structures, thus separating themselves even more from the “ordinary” men and women of the Air Force. This unconventional thinking and anarchistic attitude only served to heighten their mythological status.

Charlie the PJ – AF Special Warfare (n.d.). Pararescue.

After the events of September 11, 2001, the Air Commandos were once again needed to stand against the enemies of the United States. While the world watched newscasts showing columns of clean-cut men and women in uniform boarding military transports to take the fight to the enemy, Air Commandos were already flying low over their mountain bases in Afghanistan.