12th Air Force officials unfurl new flags during redesignation

  • Published
  • By Capt. Nathan D. Broshear
  • 12th Air Force, Air Forces Southern Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (AFPN) --  Airmen from 12th Air Force here sheathed the guidons of several units and unfurled a new banner marking the command's transition from a traditional numbered Air Force to an Air Force component organization Feb. 29 here.

Lt. Gen. Norman R. Seip, the commander of 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern, or AFSOUTH, published Special Order GB-32 officially deactivating seven organizations and concurrently activating two new units, which have the core focus of supporting operations in Central, South America and the Caribbean. 

"While it's never a good day to deactivate a group or a squadron, it is absolutely the right thing to do to better support the combatant commander, our sister services and our joint and coalition partners as we face an uncertain world with uncertain threats," General Seip said. 

The deactivation, activation and redesignation of AFSOUTH units are part of an Air Force-wide effort implementing the Air Force chief of staff's direction to establish component organizations structured to operate and train every day in their wartime configuration. These new Air Force warfighting organizations are stood up to enable the effective command and control of air, space and cyberspace forces to conduct missions across the spectrum of military operations. For AFSOUTH Airmen, the transition will assist the unit in supporting operations in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility. 

During the inactivation portion of the ceremony, AFSOUTH Airmen folded and encased seven unit flags for the last time. The flags served as symbols of unity, strength, sacrifice, history and accomplishments of their unit members. 

"These flags may be retired and cased, but their accomplishments, their history, and their legacy live on," said Lt. Col. Mark Steves, the 612th Air Operations Group director of space forces. 

"Today's reorganization will create a new component headquarters made up of an Air Force Forces responsible to organize, train, equip and sustain our forces for in-theater missions, along with a capable and focused Air and Space Operations Center responsible to the combatant commander for the operational level command and control of air, space and cyberspace assets," General Seip said. 

The 612th Air and Space Operations Center, is the only continuously operational Falconer CAOC in the continental United States. It is one of five Falconer CAOC weapon systems used to support combatant commanders worldwide. The others are located in Southwest Asia, Europe, South Korea and Hawaii.

Units involved in the ceremony included:
-- the 612th Air Operations Group redesignated into the 612th Air and Space Operations Center. 
-- the 612th Combat Operation Squadron redesignated into the 612th Combat Operations Division. 
-- the 612th Combat Plans Squadron redesignated into the 612th Combat Plans Division.
-- the 612th Air Intelligence Squadron redesignated into the 612th Air Intelligence and Reconnaissance Division.
-- the 612th Information Operations Flight renamed the 612th Information Operations Team and aligned under the 612th Air and Space Operations Center Strategy Division.
-- the 612th Air Intelligence Group deactivated and reactivated as the 12th Air Force Air Forces Southern A-2 Division.
-- the 612th Air Support Squadron deactivated and the staff was absorbed into the 12th Air Forces Southern A4/7 Division. 

Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link)

View the comments/letters page