The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

's 5th Air Support Operations Squadron is a combat support squadron located at

Fort Lewis Fort Lewis may refer to: * Fort Lewis (Colorado), a former United States Army post (1878–1891) in the U.S. State of Colorado ** Fort Lewis College, a college in the Durango, Colorado, United States ** Fort Lewis Skyhawks, athletic teams of Fort L ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The unit provides tactical command and control of

airpower Airpower or air power consists of the application of military aviation, military strategy and strategic theory to the realm of aerial warfare and close air support. Airpower began in the advent of powered flight early in the 20th century. A ...

assets to the

Joint Forces Air Component Commander Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC) is a United States Department of Defense doctrinal term. It is pronounced "Jay-Fack". It refers to a senior officer who is responsible for the air forces within a joint force; i.e., a military force c ...

and

Joint Forces Land Component Commander Joint Force Land Component Commander (JFLCC), is a United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal gover ...

for combat operations.

History

World War II

The squadron was first activated in May 1942 as the 5th Communications Squadron. After training in the United States, it moved to Australia in May 1943, where it became an element of

Fifth Air Force The Fifth Air Force (5 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the U.S. Air Force's oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organ ...

as the 5th Air Support Communication Squadron. It participated in combat, earning

arrowhead device The arrowhead device is a miniature bronze arrowhead that may be worn on campaign, expedition, and service medals and ribbons to denote participation in an amphibious assault landing, combat parachute jump, helicopter assault landing, or combat ...

s for participation in

amphibious landing Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...

s in New Guinea, the

Bismark Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipelag ...

, and

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

. Its air support parties served with

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

and

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

forces, directing

air support Close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as Strafing, strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS r ...

missions for the forces they served. After

V-J Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on wh ...

, the squadron was inactivated in the Philippines in November 1945.

Reactivation

The squadron was reactivated at

, Washington in July 1994 as the 5th Air Support Operations Squadron. It has deployed personnel to fight since the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001, notably during the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

(2003-2010). The unit's

Joint Terminal Attack Controller Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) is the term used in the United States Armed Forces and some other military forces for a qualified service member who directs the action of military aircraft engaged in close air support and other offensive ...

s are traditionally aligned with I Corps and the Joint Base Lewis-McChord based

Stryker Brigade The Stryker is a family of Eight-wheel drive, eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in L ...

s, but due to manning shortages and theater requirements, the unit's airmen have deployed with many different units during the past decade.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 5th Communications Squadron, Air Support on 15 May 1942 : Activated on 22 May 1942 : Redesignated 5th Air Support Communication Squadron on 11 January 1943 : Redesignated 5th Air Support Control Squadron on 20 August 1943 : Redesignated 5th Tactical Air Communications Squadron on 1 April 1944 : Inactivated on 28 November 1945 : Disbanded on 8 October 1948 * Reconstituted and redesignated 5th Air Support Operations Squadron on 24 June 1994 : Activated on 1 July 1994

Assignments

* I Ground Air Support Command (later I Air Support Command), 15 May 1942 * Fifth Air Force, June 1943 *

308th Bombardment Wing The 308th Armament Systems Wing was a United States Air Force unit established in 1951, being activated and inactivated at different times in history. It was last assigned to the Air Armament Center, stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. ...

, 25 July 1945 * XIII Bomber Command, 20 October–28 November 1945 * 1st Air Support Operations Group, 1 July 1994 – present

Stations

Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People and fictional characters *Mitchell (surname), including lists of both people and fictional characters *Mitchell (given name), lists of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Ca ...

, New York, 22 May 1942 *

Lebanon, Tennessee Lebanon ( ) is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metro ...

, 9 September 1942 *

Morris Field Charlotte Douglas International Airport is an international airport serving Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, located roughly west of the city's central business district. Charlotte Douglas is the primary airport for commercial and m ...

, North Carolina, c. 21 October 1942 – 8 May 1943 *

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, New South Wales, Australia, 13 June 1943 *

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

, Queensland, Australia, 26 July 1943 *

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

, New Guinea, 11 September 1943 *

Finschhafen Finschhafen is a town east of Lae on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven. During World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U. ...

, New Guinea, 29 February 1944 * Hollandia, New Guinea, Netherlands East Indies, 30 August 1944 * Morotai, Netherlands East Indies, 1 October 1944 *

Clark Field Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, Philippines, 14 May–28 November 1945 * Fort Lewis (later part of Joint Base Lewis-McChord), Washington, 1 July 1994 – present

References

Notes

Bibliography

Air support operations squadrons of the United States Air Force {{USAF-stub