AFSOC

United States Air Force Special Operations Command
Air Force Special Operations Command Emblem
Active	22 May 1990 – present
Country	United States of America
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Special Operations
Role	Conduct global special operations missions ranging from precision application of firepower to infiltration, aviation foreign internal defense, exfiltration, resupply and refueling of SOF operational elements
Size	17,967 personnel authorized: 15,724 military personnel 2,243 civilian personnel
Part of	United States Special Operations Command
Garrison/HQ	Hurlburt Field, Florida
Motto(s)	"Any Time, Any Place"
Engagements	Invasion of Panama Gulf War Unified Task Force Operation Gothic Serpent Battle of Mogadishu Operation Uphold Democracy War on Terror OEF-A OEF-P Iraq War
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant General Marshall B. Webb

17,967 personnel authorized:

Invasion of Panama
Gulf War
Unified Task Force
Operation Gothic Serpent

Operation Uphold Democracy
War on Terror

Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, is the special operations component of the United States Air Force. An Air Force major command (MAJCOM), AFSOC is also the U.S. Air Force component command to United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), a unified combatant command located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. AFSOC provides all Air Force Special Operations Forces (SOF) for worldwide deployment and assignment to regional unified combatant commands.

Before 1983, Air Force special operations forces were primarily assigned to the Tactical Air Command (TAC) and were generally deployed under the control of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) or, as had been the case during the Vietnam War, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). Just as it had relinquished control of the C-130 theater airlift fleet to Military Airlift Command (MAC) in 1975, TAC relinquished control of Air Force SOF to MAC in December 1982.

AFSOC was initially established on 10 February 1983 as Twenty-Third Air Force (23 AF), a subordinate numbered air force of MAC, with 23 AF headquarters initially established at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. On 1 August 1987, 23 AF headquarters moved to Hurlburt Field, Florida.