Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas -- The 854th Combat Operations Squadron, located at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, is the Reserve Associate Unit to the 624th Operations Center, and supports operations under the 24th Air Force, Air Force Cyber, and Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber.
The 854th COS (RAU) has recently been recognized by several key senior leaders, such as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, U.S. Cyber Command Commander, and the Secretary of the Air Force for our operational efforts and strategic planning focus.
The RAU and OC have a very close Total Force partnership, with RAU members supporting every division and section of the OC in a traditional or full-time role: Intel, Strategy, Combat Plans, Combat Operations, Training, Standardization and Evaluation, and even front office support.
Recently, the RAU led efforts during Red Flag 16-1 to develop the JFHQ-C relationship with the JFHQ-C Army counterpart for joint mission planning, de-confliction, and synchronization. This particular exercise also tested execution and tasking of the new cyber force construct, which is essential to the JFHQ-C’s ability to command and control combat mission forces.
Another recent 854th contribution to the cyber community was the creation of a multi-purpose cyber training lab to prepare cyber warfare operations students for the rigors of technical training; the lab also doubles as a hands-on virtual lab to carry out offensive cyber operations training. This lab enables full-spectrum operators to complete upgrade training without affecting operations, and has been incorporated into a training plan for students in units across the 960th Cyber Operations Group and total force.
Due to the high ops tempo of the OC, in combination with the current low manning levels, the 854th COS executes more MPA days than any other unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. At any given moment, the OC is manned as much as 50% by 854th COS personnel.
The 854th takes great pride in its current TFI partnership, and looks forward to an additional 84 personnel slots in the next two years as it expands to support the Air Force Joint Force Cyber Headquarters mission.