A reader told me to check out the 435th Security Forces Squadron and was I gobsmacked! Looks like the USAF is ahead of the US Army and are equipped and ready to setup an airfield in austere locations.
I mean where there is no runway...only jungle or desert or forest, to drop in secure the area and then clear it to make it suitable for an airstrip or LAPPES drops.
If you take the skill set of the boys in the Red Horse Squadrons (think airborne engineers from the 82nd with the skill set of SeaBees) along with the 435th then you have a one stop shop for expeditionary airfield ops.
Check out the history of the 435th on Wikipedia but a small tidbit...
In March 2003 the 786 SFS participated in a combat parachute drop into Bashur Airfield in conjunction with the 173rd Airborne Brigade to open up the northern front in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 786 SFS is the first conventional Air Force unit to participate in a combat parachute airborne jump.Interesting.
I'm seeing a curious trend here. Much like USMC snipers are sometimes attached to Special Ops teams...just as EOD Units are, we're seeing a USAF unit that seems to blur the line between conventional and Special Operations.
Nice.