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Under new management will America's dedicated CSAR forces finally thrive in AFSOC?

Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / On 1 October 2003 the USAF transferred control of its CONUS-based combat search and rescue(CSAR) assets from Air Combat Command to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). Transferto AFSOC was CSAR's fourth major reorganization in twenty years, and was the latest in a turbulentprocession of attempts to improve the combat effectiveness of CSAR forces. Despite possessing anabundance of brave, motivated, and extremely capable personnel yearning to accomplish their mission, dysfunctional organizational arrays and nagging organizational constraints have prevented USAF dedicatedCSAR forces from "getting to the fight" for the onset of hostilities in three of this nation's past four majorarmed conflicts. Special operations forces had to fill the void. This analysis evaluates CSAR's positionwithin AFSOC's organizational array to determine if this latest reorganization is likely to produce durableimprovements in CSAR combat effectiveness. My conclusion is that "CSAR friendly" organizational cultureand effective organizational constructs within AFSOC Headquarters, combined with highly receptiveattitudes among CSAR crewmembers, form a historically unique organizational mix that favors the long termsuccess of CSAR forces in AFSOC. To ensure AFSOC's favorable organizational posture is translated toimproved combat capability, leadership must immediately increase CSAR representation on HHQ staffs. / Major, United States Air Force

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:nps.edu/oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/1278
Date12 1900
CreatorsCline, John D.
ContributorsJansen, Erik, Robinson, Glenn E., Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)., Defense Analysis
PublisherMonterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Source SetsNaval Postgraduate School
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatxiv, 96 p. : ill. (some col.) ;, application/pdf
RightsThis publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.

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