4 Mar 2019

Special Tactics Airmen culminate 830-mile ruck march to honor fallen brethren

Aches, blisters, exhaustion, pain…830 miles, five states, 11 days…are a minute price to pay to honor the fallen. The push to continue on for these Air Commandos come from their communities’ legacy of never forgetting a fallen comrade, from the pride instilled within themselves, and from reaching down and grabbing one of 20 batons that contained an inscribed name of a fallen teammate. Air Force Special Operations Command Special Tactics Airmen, along with a mission support force of 19 Air Commandos assigned to the 24th Special Operations Wing, began the 5th iteration of the Special Tactics Memorial March in the pre-lit dawn, Feb. 22 at Medina Annex at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to pay tribute to U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Dylan J. Elchin. 

28 Feb 2019

Behind the scenes of the Special Tactics Memorial March

Alongside highways and back roads of the southern U.S. states, there are two Special Tactics Airmen trekking in the name of their fallen brethren killed in combat. What most people won’t see, is the Individual Duty Medical Technicians putting moleskin on painful blisters, or the communication Airman ensuring the operators are following the correct route, or supply Airmen servicing safety vehicles and the list goes on. A support force of 19 Air Commandos from nine different career specialties are working around-the-clock, 24/7, behind the scenes of Air Force Special Operations Command’s Special Tactics Memorial March, as 10 two-man teams ruck 830 miles to Hurlburt Field.

6 Dec 2018

Fallen Special Tactics operator remembered during hometown memorial

Hundreds of Special Tactics Airmen, family and friends gathered to commemorate a fallen teammate, son, fiancé, and warrior during a memorial service, Dec. 6, 2018, in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. The memorial honored the life and legacy of U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Dylan Elchin, a Special Tactics combat controller assigned to the 26th Special Tactics Squadron, who was killed Nov. 27, 2018, when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb while deployed in support of Operation FREEDOM’S SENTINEL in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.