The Air Force’s first operational C-17 squadron furled its flag Thursday at Joint Base Charleston.
The 17th Airlift Squadron was inactivated in a ceremony at the base, one of Charleston’s four active-duty C-17 flying squadrons, according to the base. The cut is part of the president’s defense budget for fiscal 2015. The squadron was reactivated July 14, 1993, and was the first operational C-17 squadron, the base said.
Air Mobility Command laid out the plan in December. The fiscal 2015 budget converts 16 of the command’s C-17s, eight from Joint Base Charleston and eight from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, from primary mission aircraft to backup aircraft inventory, the Air Force said then. The command scheduled the 17th’s inactivation for fiscal 2015 and the 10th Airlift Squadron’s at McChord for fiscal 2016.
Backup aircraft are assigned with no manpower or flying hours, though they still receive the money needed to sustain the weapon system, according to the Air Force. Removing the personnel and flying hours tied to the 16 jets saves about $110 million a year, the service said.
“In this fiscally constrained environment, we have to balance readiness, capability and capacity,” Maj. Gen. Michael S. Stough, the command’s director of strategic plans, requirements and programs, said in December.
Stough said the intent was to fund the aircraft back into the primary inventory in future years and transfer them to the reserve component, possibly as early as fiscal 2016, working with the Air National Guard.
“We rely on our total force partners to meet our global mobility requirements; we couldn’t do the mission without them,” he said.
At Thursday’s ceremony, Col. Fred Bohem, commander of the 437th Operations Group, and Lt. Col. Paul Theriot, the squadron’s commander, rolled up the 17th’s guidon, the unit flag, according to the base. A C-17 was on display for the ceremony.
The base’s remaining active-duty C-17 squadrons fly with the 437th Airlift Wing.
