Apollo's Warriors: US Air Force Special Operations During the Cold War

ForewordSince our founding 50 years ago, the US Air Force has been responsible to the nation for controlling and exploiting the air and space environment. We are the nation’s Air Force—the only service that provides air and space power across the spectrum, from basic research to combat operations. In Apollo’s Warriors, Col Michael Haas, USAF, Retired, brings to life the critical, albeit little-known, contributions US Air Force special operations forces have made to the exercise of air and space power.The author focuses in particular on the period between the Korean War and the Indochina wars of 1950–79. The Korean War marked the first major use of Air Force special operations capabilities during the cold war. Capabilities previously employed during the Second World War were quickly resurrected and used to conduct unconventional warfare missions on the land and sea, as well as in the air. Once these capabilities were available, USAF special operations personnel found themselves constantly engaged in psychological, covert, and search and rescue operations far north of the 38th parallel until the war ended in 1953.During the period between 1953 and the initial force deployments to Laos and South Vietnam in the early 1960s, the Air Resupply and Communications (ARC) units had the primary responsibility for USAF special operations. Operating in support of US intelligence and US Army Special Forces groups, the four ARC units performed a number of national-level, clandestine, and covert operations behind the Iron Curtain. Backing up this small force, four states activated their own Air National Guard ARC units as a ready reserve force to support special operatio Read more