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20th MOS inactivates

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Krystal M. Jeffers
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Shaw Air Force Base held an inactivation ceremony for the 20th Maintenance Operations Squadron here, June 14.

The 20th MOS and the maintenance operations squadrons Air Force wide were not deactivated but inactivated for an undetermined amount of time.

"There is a difference between a squadron being inactivated and deactivated," explains Staff Sgt. Alaina Deines, 20th MOS maintenance management analyst . "When a squadron is deactivated it means that the squadron will never be able to stand back up. However when a squadron is inactivated the colors are stored at Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum, Ohio, and when the Air Force needs the squadron again it is reactivated."

The squadron will still operate like normal. However, 20th MOS will not have a commander and it will be reassigned to the 20th Maintenance Group. This will allow the commander of the squadron to be reassigned to another location.

"The men and women of the 20th MOS selflessly do their job each and every day," said Maj. Michael Fields, 20th MOS commander.

Several responsibilities fall under the squadron. They coordinate flying and maintenance schedules. They also evaluate maintenance records, practices and personnel to gauge compliance with directives as well as the overall health of the fleet. In addition, the 20th MOS establishes priorities for shared resources and provides weapons load, maintenance and safety training for more than 2,600 personnel in 35 Air Force Specialty Codes, according to the official U.S. Air Force website.

These tasks along with the other responsibilities will still be completed despite the change of command and the squadron will stay mission-ready.

"(Being inactivated) will not affect combat readiness," Deines said. "Our mission and workload remain the same. The squadron inactivating has no impact on either of these."

Since the 20th MOS is not being deactivated, in the future when the Air Force requires maintenance operations squadrons again, the unit will be reactivated and the history of the 20th MOS will continue.

The history of the 20th MOS dates back to 1943 when the Army Air Forces activated the 20th Station Complement Squadron at Jacksonville Army Airfield, Fla.

"The parent unit the squadron was assigned to has been lost to history but it was supporting anti-submarine operations off the Florida coast and the 20th SCS supported the air operations of aircraft believed to be the A-20 Havoc and the B-18 Bolo bombers," said Arthur Sevigny, 20th Fighter Wing historian. "During the early part of WW II German U-boats patrolled close to America's shores and preyed on Allied ships moving in and out of our ports."

In the summer of 1943, the threat of U-boats off the Eastern seaboard diminished and the U.S. Navy took over responsibility for U-boat patrols. The 20th SCS transferred to the United Kingdom to support the air campaign against Nazi Germany as part of the 386th Bomb Group. In the fall of 1943, the 20th SCS transferred again with the 386th Bomb Group to the 9th Air Force which is now designated as U.S. Air Forces Central.

"By the fall of 1944 the allies had pushed Nazi forces back to the German border and 9th AF units needed to keep up with the Allied advances," Sevigny said "The 386th Bomb Group along with 20th SCS moved to France and eventually Belgium as the Allies pushed into Germany."

At the end of the war, the Army disbanded the 20th SCS. Then 47 years later, on March 31, 1992, the Air Force reconstituted the 20th SCS and re-designated it as the 20th Logistics Support Squadron. The squadron was assigned to the 20th Fighter Wing who flew F-111 Aardvarks and was stationed at Royal Air Force Upper Heyford, England.

"When the Cold War ended, the 20th FW and the reactivated 20th LSS were no longer needed in Europe," Sevigny explained. "The 20th FW moved from England to Shaw AFB without equipment or personnel on Jan. 1, 1994."

On Jan. 1, 1994, the 20th LSS was inactivated and then reactivated on the same day at Shaw. The squadron then provided support to the A-10 Thunderbolt II and the F-16 Fighting Falcon at Shaw.

On Sept. 30, 2002, the Air Force re-designated the 20th LSS again and it became the 20th MOS.