24th Special Tactics Squadron: Mission, Selection, and Every Air Force Special Tactics Squadron

The 24th Special Tactics Squadron is the Air Force's component to Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC): a special tactics squadron of combat controllers, pararescuemen, special reconnaissance airmen, and tactical air control party operators who put airpower to work on the nation's most sensitive missions. It sits at Pope Field, North Carolina, under the 724th Special Tactics Group and the 24th Special Operations Wing, the only Special Tactics wing in the Air Force.

Every operator in that squadron started as a candidate who could swim, ruck, and run under fatigue long before anyone taught them to control aircraft or treat trauma under fire. That physical base is what our military fitness programs are built to develop, well before an assessment cadre ever sees you.

Below, we cover what a special tactics squadron is, what the 24th STS does and how operators get there, the full list of all 10 Air Force Special Tactics Squadrons, the career fields that fill them, and the selection pipeline you have to survive first.

Key Takeaways:

• The 24th Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Field, North Carolina, is the Air Force's JSOC component and its only tier-one special tactics unit.

• Air Force Special Tactics runs 10 squadrons: eight active duty (17th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 26th, 320th, 321st) and two Air National Guard (123rd, 125th).

• Special tactics squadrons are built from four operator career fields (combat control, pararescue, special reconnaissance, and special tactics TACP) plus Special Tactics Officers and Combat Rescue Officers.

• There is no direct path into the 24th STS. You qualify as a Special Tactics operator first, build experience, then volunteer for an additional assessment.

• Selection rewards aerobic capacity, water confidence, load carriage, and durability under accumulated fatigue, so train for all four.

What Is a Special Tactics Squadron?

A special tactics squadron is an Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) ground unit that puts airpower on target. Its operators handle three core missions: global access, precision strike, and personnel recovery. Because of that skill set, Special Tactics teams are often the first special operations element into a crisis.

The Air Force owns the aircraft, the airfields, and the rescue assets. Ground forces need people on the ground who speak that language fluently: open a dirt strip, control a stack of aircraft, call in a precision strike, or recover an isolated teammate. That is the gap an Air Force special tactics squadron fills, and it is why Special Tactics airmen attach to SEAL teams, Army Special Forces, and Ranger units rather than operating as a standalone maneuver force.

How Air Force Special Tactics is organized

Every active-duty special tactics squadron in the United States falls under the 24th Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The wing's primary mission is to provide Special Tactics forces for rapid global employment. It runs two operational groups and a training squadron:

• 720th Special Tactics Group (Hurlburt Field): the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 26th Special Tactics Squadrons plus an operations support squadron.

• 724th Special Tactics Group (Pope Field): the 24th STS, the 17th STS, and intelligence and support squadrons.

• Special Tactics Training Squadron (Hurlburt Field): assesses, selects, and trains operators for the wing.

The community also includes Special Operations Surgical Teams and a deep bench of combat mission support airmen, roughly 60 Air Force specialties in total. The Air Force contribution to special operations forces is broader than most candidates realize, and Special Tactics is its ground-combat edge.

The 24th Special Tactics Squadron: Inside the Air Force's Tier-One Unit

The 24th Special Tactics Squadron is the deep end of Air Force Special Tactics. Every other squadron on this list supports theater special operations forces. The 24th STS is assigned to the 724th Special Tactics Group and serves as the Air Force component to JSOC, the joint headquarters that runs the nation's special mission units.

What does the 24th Special Tactics Squadron do?

The 24th Special Tactics Squadron provides combat control, pararescue, special reconnaissance, and fire support expertise to JSOC's special mission units. Its operators integrate airpower into counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and direct action missions, and they recover wounded or isolated personnel when an operation goes wrong.

Most of the squadron's operational detail is classified, and we do not speculate past the public record. What is public is the pattern: when a JSOC assault force needs an aircraft landed on an unprepared strip, a strike controlled danger-close, or a casualty treated and moved under fire, the specialist doing it is often a 24th STS operator. Inside that joint system, the squadron works alongside dedicated special operations aviation such as the 160th SOAR, which flies the assault and extraction platforms those ground teams depend on.

Where the 24th STS came from

The squadron's lineage traces to the 24th Air Corps Interceptor Control Squadron, formed in October 1941 at Hamilton Field, California. The modern unit took shape in the late 1970s as a classified combat control element, became the 1724th Special Tactics Squadron in 1987, and was redesignated the 24th Special Tactics Squadron in 1992.

Its combat record is short on public detail and long on decorations. Squadron airmen deployed for the 1989 invasion of Panama. In Mogadishu in 1993, a 24th STS pararescueman earned the Air Force Cross for treating wounded under heavy fire. In 2002, combat controller Master Sgt. John Chapman of the 24th STS fought on alone on Takur Ghar in Afghanistan, actions later recognized with the Medal of Honor.

How do you join the 24th Special Tactics Squadron?

There is no recruiting contract for the 24th STS. You join by first becoming a fully qualified Special Tactics operator (combat controller, pararescueman, special reconnaissance airman, Special Tactics Officer, or Combat Rescue Officer), serving in a special tactics squadron, and then volunteering for the unit's own assessment and operator training course. The specific standards are not published.

That sequence matters for how you plan. The 24th STS is a five-to-ten-year goal, not a first assignment, and everything before it rests on the same foundation: getting through the Air Force special warfare pipeline healthy. If you are weighing structured preparation for that path, our guide to choosing an SOF training program breaks down what a selection-prep program should and should not include.

The 24th STS patch and beret

The 24th Special Tactics Squadron patch is the squadron's official unit emblem, approved through the Air Force's heraldry process and recorded with its lineage. Like most JSOC-aligned units, the squadron keeps a low public profile, so the emblem shows up more in heritage displays and memorial events than in operational imagery.

What identifies an operator more reliably is the beret, which signals career field rather than squadron. Combat controllers and Special Tactics Officers wear the scarlet beret, pararescuemen and Combat Rescue Officers wear maroon, special reconnaissance airmen wear pewter gray, and TACPs wear black.

The Full List of Air Force Special Tactics Squadrons

Air Force Special Tactics fields 10 squadrons. Eight are active duty, six of them in the continental United States and two overseas. Two are Air National Guard units that train to the same standard and augment the 24th Special Operations Wing.

Figure 1.1 - The ten Air Force Special Tactics squadrons mapped to the command structure that replaced the 24th Special Operations Wing, which furled its flag at Hurlburt Field on 16 May 2025 after thirteen years. The 720th and 724th Special Tactics Groups now report directly to Air Force Special Operations Command, which means both Air National Guard squadrons are gained by AFSOC rather than augmenting a wing that no longer exists, the 125th's own fact sheet still names it. The 26th Special Tactics Squadron belongs to the 720th Special Tactics Group and is merely hosted at Cannon Air Force Base by the 27th Special Operations Wing, and the 321st sits under the 752nd Special Operations Group rather than directly under the 352nd Special Operations Wing. Sources: AFSOC, "Special Tactics Enterprise Transitions as 24 SOW Flag Furled," 16 May 2025; AFSOC unit listing; 123rd Airlift Wing and 142nd Wing squadron fact sheets; Air Force Historical Research Agency.

The 720th Special Tactics Group squadrons (21st, 22nd, 23rd, 26th)

The 21st Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Field and the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron at Hurlburt Field are among the oldest units in the community. The 22nd Special Tactics Squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord gives the wing a West Coast presence alongside the Army special operations units based there.

The 26th Special Tactics Squadron is the newest, stood up at Cannon Air Force Base in 2014 from a 720th group detachment. It was the first special tactics squadron affiliated with Cannon, built to train and deploy with the base's 27th Special Operations Wing, and it brought four operator career fields and 18 combat mission support specialties under one roof.

The 17th Special Tactics Squadron and the Rangers

The 17th Special Tactics Squadron is unique. It was redesignated from the 17th Air Support Operations Squadron in 2013, and its primary mission is to provide special tactics TACPs to the 75th Ranger Regiment. The squadron is co-located with Ranger battalions so its operators train full cycles with the exact teams they deploy with. Conventional TACPs earn a slot through a separate weeklong assessment at Hurlburt Field, and the Air Force has stated that only about five percent of TACPs move into a special operations role. The squadron moved from the 720th to the 724th Special Tactics Group in 2020 to tighten that Ranger alignment.

Guard and overseas squadrons (123rd, 125th, 320th, 321st)

The 123rd Special Tactics Squadron (Kentucky) and 125th Special Tactics Squadron (Oregon) are Air National Guard units. Their operators complete the same pipeline as active-duty airmen and deploy for combat operations, humanitarian response, and training missions.

The 320th Special Tactics Squadron in Japan and the 321st Special Tactics Squadron in England belong to AFSOC's overseas wings, and the 24th SOW supports them with training, personnel, and resources. They give theater commanders Special Tactics capability already forward when a crisis starts.

What Do Special Tactics Operators Do?

Special tactics operators come from four enlisted career fields and two officer career fields, plus TACP officers. Each brings a different specialty, and a special tactics team blends them to fit the mission.

Combat control

Combat controllers are FAA-certified air traffic controllers who operate on the ground in hostile territory. They survey and open assault zones, control aircraft in austere environments, and call close air support. That combination of airfield expertise and fire support is why a combat controller attached to an Army Special Forces team, such as a detachment from the 5th Special Forces Group, adds capability the team cannot produce on its own.

Pararescue

Pararescuemen (PJs) are combat rescue and trauma specialists trained to reach isolated personnel by land, sea, or air, treat them, and get them out. Their pipeline includes paramedic-level medical training, which is why special mission units without organic medical depth lean on them.

Special reconnaissance

Special reconnaissance airmen replaced the Special Operations Weather Team career field in 2019. The Air Force broadened the role from environmental reconnaissance to a wider special reconnaissance mission that prepares the battlespace for air, space, and cyber operations.

Special tactics TACP

Tactical air control party operators are joint terminal attack controllers who integrate strike aircraft with ground maneuver. Special tactics TACPs do that job at the speed of a special operations raid, which is why the 17th STS exists.

Special Tactics Officers and Combat Rescue Officers

Special Tactics Officers lead combat control and special reconnaissance teams, and Combat Rescue Officers lead pararescue teams. Both attend assessment and selection alongside enlisted candidates and are expected to hold the same physical standard as the operators they command.

How to Join Air Force Special Tactics: Selection and Training

Joining any special tactics squadron starts with the Air Force special warfare pipeline. The Air Force groups seven career fields under special warfare (four enlisted, three officer), and the early pipeline is shared. For a non-prior-service enlisted candidate, the sequence looks like this:

1. Pass the Initial Fitness Test (IFT) with a special warfare recruiter. The IFT replaced the Physical Ability and Stamina Test (PAST) name and is the minimum entry standard.

2. Complete Basic Military Training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.

3. Complete the Special Warfare Preparatory Course, roughly eight weeks of conditioning, water confidence, and recovery education at Lackland.

4. Survive Assessment and Selection (A&S), a four-week course at Lackland that selects combat control, pararescue, special reconnaissance, STO, and CRO candidates together. TACP candidates are assessed through a separate process.

5. Complete the tactical field course and career-specific training, including dive, airborne, survival, and medical or air traffic control schools depending on your field.

6. Finish advanced skills training with the Special Tactics Training Squadron before reporting to a special tactics squadron.

Airmen already serving in another career field can cross-train, but they go through a dedicated recruitment, assessment, and selection process run by the Special Tactics Training Squadron. The Air Force reported that before that program existed, attrition among cross-trainees ran around 80 percent.

What fitness Special Tactics selection demands

The IFT is a floor, not a target. A&S runs continuously with no days off, and the physical load arrives as volume: pool sessions, rucks, runs, calisthenics, and team events stacked on poor sleep. Candidates who arrive at the minimum spend the entire course in deficit. Candidates who arrive well above it have the margin to absorb the stress and still think clearly.

Train the four qualities that decide the outcome:

• Aerobic capacity, because almost every event is aerobic and a deeper base clears fatigue faster between sessions.

• Water confidence, because underwater work is where unprepared candidates panic and quit, and composure in the pool is trained, not innate.

• Upper-body muscular endurance, because pull-ups, push-ups, and fin and swim work repeat all day and failure is local fatigue, not strength.

• Durability, because stress fractures and tendon injuries remove more strong candidates than any single event.

For the specific upper-body test standard used in Air Force special warfare, see our breakdown of the UBRR and AF special warfare. Every candidate also has to hold the general service standard, so check where you stand on the Air Force PT test before you ship. In the final weeks, the goal shifts from building capacity to arriving fresh, which is the logic behind peaking for selection.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

What is a special tactics squadron?

A special tactics squadron is an Air Force Special Operations Command unit of ground operators who integrate airpower with special operations forces. Its combat controllers, pararescuemen, special reconnaissance airmen, and special tactics TACPs provide global access, precision strike, and personnel recovery. The Air Force runs 10 such squadrons, eight active duty and two Air National Guard.

What does the 24th Special Tactics Squadron do?

The 24th Special Tactics Squadron is the Air Force component to Joint Special Operations Command. Its operators attach to special mission units to control aircraft, call precision strikes, conduct reconnaissance, and recover or treat personnel during counterterrorism and hostage rescue operations. Most mission detail is classified.

How do you join the 24th Special Tactics Squadron?

You cannot enlist directly into the 24th STS. You first qualify as a Special Tactics operator or officer through the Air Force special warfare pipeline, serve in a special tactics squadron, and then volunteer for the 24th STS assessment and operator training course. Its standards are not published.

How many people are in the 24th STS?

The Air Force does not publish manning figures for the 24th Special Tactics Squadron. As a JSOC component, its size is withheld for operational security. Any specific number you see online is an estimate, not an official figure.

What are the Special Tactics career fields?

The Special Tactics operator career fields are combat control (CCT), pararescue (PJ), special reconnaissance (SR), and special tactics tactical air control party (TACP). Special Tactics Officers lead CCT and SR teams, and Combat Rescue Officers lead PJ teams. Roughly 60 support specialties round out the community.

The 24th Special Tactics Squadron sits at the top of a 10-squadron Air Force Special Tactics enterprise, and every operator in it earned the right to try out by first passing the same special warfare pipeline you are preparing for. Unit names, berets, and patches come later. The variable you control today is the engine you bring to Lackland: aerobic depth, composure in the water, upper-body endurance, and a body that holds up under weeks of accumulated load.

Start building that base now, with a structured plan, so you show up to Assessment and Selection with margin to spare instead of hoping the minimum is enough.

References:

Air Force Special Operations Command. "24th Special Operations Wing" fact sheet.

Department of the Air Force Historical Support Division. "24 Special Operations Wing (AFSOC)" lineage fact sheet.

Department of the Air Force Historical Support Division. "17 Special Tactics Squadron (AFSOC)" lineage fact sheet.

Department of the Air Force Historical Support Division. "26 Special Tactics Squadron (AFSOC)" lineage fact sheet.

24th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs. "17th Special Tactics Squadron realigns under 724th Special Tactics Group" (2020). Air University.

Air Force Special Operations Command. "ST Squadron endures continuous deployment."

U.S. Air Force. "5,000 days of war" (17th STS and the 75th Ranger Regiment).

Cannon Air Force Base Public Affairs. "Cannon welcomes new special tactics squadron" (2014).

U.S. Air Force. "Air Force transitions enlisted specialty, grows special tactics capabilities" (SOWT to Special Reconnaissance, 2019).

U.S. Air Force. "Small team ensures special tactics career fields grow with the best" (Recruitment, Assessment and Selection).

Air Force Times. "Air Force solidifies fitness standards for special warfare trainees" (March 2023).

Task & Purpose. "Air Force revamps its special warfare training pipeline."

Weidmer, B., et al. Assessment and Selection for U.S. Air Force Special Warfare. RAND Corporation, RR-A1199-1.

U.S. Air Force. Medal of Honor citation, Master Sgt. John A. Chapman (awarded 2018).

Air Force Cross citation, Mogadishu, Somalia, October 1993 (24th Special Tactics Squadron pararescueman).

Disclaimer: This article is for general educational purposes. Unit structures, assignments, and selection pipelines change, and much of the 24th Special Tactics Squadron's mission is classified; we report only what is in the public record. Confirm current requirements with an Air Force special warfare recruiter. Consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any new training program.