The 71st standup and assumption of command on 20 May 2005.
By Jim Cardoso, Col, USAF, (Retired)
For current Air Commandos, it is almost impossible to imagine an AFSOC without the CV-22. The Osprey has been in combat operations for over a decade and has moved well beyond an aviation oddity towards being a critical component of the special operations commander’s aviation toolkit. CV22 operational squadrons are stationed both in the US and overseas, and are deployed right now to the various far-flung places that Air Commandos tend to go. Hundreds of pilots and flight engineers have cycled through the 71st Special Operations Squadron, the CV-22 schoolhouse at Kirtland AFB, NM, and have employed their unique skills on the battlefield with amazing results. For some of the more seasoned Air Commandos, a tiltrotor-less AFSOC remains a fairly recent memory. And the revolutionary developments to go from “then” to “now,” including a robust pipeline to prepare men and women to execute complex and high-risk missions that are standard for the CV-22 community, don’t just spring up overnight. Tales of that journey to turn a concept into a combat reality are captured throughout this issue of the Air Commando Journal. That being said, describing all the accomplishments and the trailblazers who lived them would fill countless volumes. This article will focus on the reactivation of the 71st SOS as the first CV-22 squadron in the Air Force, and the build-up of that www.aircommando.org
initial cadre and program towards the current well-established training program. On 20 May 2005, at Kirtland AFB, in the same hangar we would make our future home, the 71st SOS was officially reactivated as a USAF Formal Training Unit (FTU). An Osprey from the Edwards AFB flight test team was flown in for the event and dominated the southwest corner of the hangar. Col Eric Fiel, 58th Special Operations Wing commander, to whom I owed a huge debt of gratitude for selecting me for command, sat in the front row of distinguished visitors. Unlike the normal change of command, this was an assumption of command since we were reactivating the squadron and there was no previous commander to relinquish the guidon. Col Paul Harmon, 58th Operations Group commander, first uncased the 71st SOS colors, furled since October 1993, then handed them to me, while Lt Col Todd Lovell, my operations officer, led the formation of troops and presented the ceremonial first salute. Within this formation was also the newly activated 71st Aircraft Maintenance Unit (AMU) of the 58th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (AMXS). While the 71st SOS reactivation meant that operations and maintenance would now fall under different group organizations per standard USAF practice, I wanted our maintenance teammates in the formation to demonstrate the Team Osprey spirit. While no one remembers speeches from Vol 9, Issue 1 │ AIR COMMANDO JOURNAL │ 29
