24th Special Tactics Squadron

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 24th Special Tactics Squadron


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country= United States
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branch= United States Air Force
type= Special Operations
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command_structure=Joint Special Operations Command
United States Air Force Special Operations Command
United States Special Operations Command
garrison=Pope Air Force Base
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battle_honours=The 24th Special Tactics Squadron is one of the Special Tactics units of the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).

Disposition

Based at Pope Air Force Base the 24th STS is among the premier Special Tactics Squadrons in the Air Force. Primarily tasked with Search and Rescue/Recovery Operations and is believed to be AFSOC's participation to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

This is supported by the fact that the Air Force Special Tactics operators assigned to Task Forces under command of the JSOC (Task Force Ranger, such as Task Force 121, Task Force 6-26 and Task Force 145) were always from the 24th STS and never from any other STS.
Conversely, 24th STS personnel have not participated in 720th Special Tactics Group operations; for example, Combat Controllers assigned to Special Forces "A-Teams" during the Afghanistan invasion belonged only to 21st, 22nd and 23rd STS.

Combat Operations

In 1993 the 24th STS responded to the downing of an Army UH-60 in Mogadishu. In more recent years the squadron has been heavily involved in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.