Combat Support Command and Control as a Component of Agile Combat Support

During the past decade, the United States military has supported continuous deployments of forces around the world, often on very short notice and for prolonged duration, to meet the needs of a wide range of peacekeeping and humanitarian missions or major contingency operations. These deployments have come from a smaller force based closer to home. The pattern of varied and fast-breaking regional crises appears to be the model for the foreseeable future and has prompted the United States to reassess how it prepares, maintains, and employs its military forces.1 In response to this operating environment, the Air Force has reorganized into an Aerospace Expeditionary Force (AEF).2 In the AEF concept, the Air Force presents forces in multiple, self-contained packages that are equipped to provide integrated, sustained force anywhere in the world on very short notice. A major premise of the AEF concept is that forces that are primarily stationed in the Continental United States (CONUS) can be tailored rapidly, deployed quickly, employed immediately, and sustained indefinitely as a viable alternative to a permanent forward presence. This premise, however, reduces the margin for error and places an increased emphasis on combat support. Although the form and structure of the AEF continues to evolve, it is clear this concept will play a central role in the future U.S. Air Force.