HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- The hum of an MC-130J Commando II’s engines rattles through the fuselage of the aircraft. A line of Special Tactics Airmen stand before the cargo door, each of them equipped with a combat loadout and a large, packed parachute. The ramp opens, the light turns green and one-by-one, the Air Commandos jump. Their mission: secure the airfield so the MC-130J can land.
Later, Airmen at a forward arming and refueling point work diligently into the night transferring fuel from an MC-130J to a U-28 Draco to get it back in the sky. The U-28s provide overwatch for a special tactics team departing into the desert to extract American citizens from a contested area. With eyes in the sky and a Special Operations Surgical Team standing by, the Air Commandos reach their target.
Miles away, the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) commander stands in a room with dozens of monitors and his staff around him. He studies a projector showing the locations of aircraft carrying out the mission at hand.
______________________
During Emerald Warrior 25.2, Air Force Special Operations Command validated its Special Operations Task Group and Special Operations Task Unit (SOTU) force presentation, demonstrating its ability to deliver flexible and focused capabilities across the spectrum of warfighting functions.
“The Special Operations Task Group is organized to carry out a variety of missions and operate as a cohesive command team while overseeing specialized Task Units,” said Lt. Col. Tyler Rhyne, the Special Operations Task Group commander. “Each Task Unit brings a unique set of capabilities to the fight—refueling, precision fires, rescue, sustainment, reconnaissance, and combat medical care, among others.”
The SOTG serves as the nerve center for Air Force special operations missions, planning and directing the organization of the SOTUs that conduct these missions. The SOTG operates as an O-5 level headquarters often in a forward environment, managing the employment of the O-4 led SOTUs. These units are characterized as aviation, special tactics, or other forms of support such as medical or mission sustainment, each of which have varying skillsets and capabilities.
“Emerald Warrior validates placing command authority with a Special Operations Task Group, enabling effective execution of Agile Combat Employment (ACE) in complicated environments,” said Rhyne. “The SOTG and SOTU structure gives us incredible flexibility and problem-solving power as it’s built around modular, purpose-built teams that become interoperable over time, and can re-task elements as the mission demands.”
Emerald Warrior 25.2 is being held as part of the first-in-a-generation Department Level Exercise series, demonstrating a new way of conducting operations in a contested, dynamic environment.
“We’re proving that operating at this level leads to Joint and partnered synchronization that will deliver decisive effects in alignment with the Air Force’s vision for future force employment,” said Rhyne.
Emerald Warrior integrates joint services and partner nations to actively train to respond to a conflict with a near-peer competitor. This iteration of the exercise saw Air Commandos joining with partner forces from the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.
“Our UK and Czech partners have integrated seamlessly,” said Rhyne. “The Royal Air Force’s A400M Atlas facilitated transport and military free fall execution for our Special Tactics teams, exhibiting our collaborative abilities in global operations and humanitarian and disaster relief scenarios.”
The disaster relief training continued as medical teams from the Czech Special Operations Forces integrated with Special Operations Forces Medical Element and a Special Operations Surgical Team. Together, they conducted hospital surveys, trained to respond to mass casualty events, and conducted prolonged casualty care in remote environments and aboard an open watercraft.
“It’s vital that we train together because we will be called on to operate together,” said Rhyne. “Emerald Warrior is a dynamic, complex exercise designed to test how we operate as a combined force under pressure. Here, we build trust, refine communication capabilities, and align our tactics so we’re ready to act decisively and effectively.”
Additionally, the exercise makes use of AFSOC Mission Sustainment Teams, or MSTs. Airmen from different career fields are blended into a deployable unit aimed at providing sustainment for operations in austere and contested environments.
“Our agile readiness has been put to the test,” said Rhyne. “We’ve had to establish and sustain operations from remote, minimally supported locations. Communication capabilities have been challenged, logistics constrained, and threats simulated across multiple domains, forcing us to adapt in real time to achieve mission success.”
AFSOC Air Commandos are some of the most capable and empowered forces in the Department of Defense, continuously integrating with joint services and partner nations to achieve complex and intricate objectives.
______________________
Deep into the night, call signs and tiny green aircraft icons flit across the projector screen. The SOTG commander watches intently, ensuring effective mission execution, maintaining accountability of all individuals under his command, and waiting to tell the Joint Special Operations Task Force commander “mission complete.”