WC Missouri News

The 509th Bomb Wing recently conducted a combined 509th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron deactivation and 393d Bomber Generation Squadron activation ceremony at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., on May 17, 2024.

This transition from AMXS to BGS is a testament to the U.S. Air Force’s and Team Whiteman’s unwavering commitment to executing and aligning with Air Force Force Generation.

“It is more than just a name change,” stated U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Corey Boyer, the senior enlisted leader of the 393d BGS. “This change will further align us with our operations counterparts. It restructures us to meet the future fight and allows us to employ maintenance focused leadership at remote and dispersed locations.”

The shift to the BGS enables the generation squadron to align specifically with the 393d Bomb Squadron, thus allowing the units to fully deploy or implement Agile Combat Employment concepts together if required.

“Typically, maintenance units go down range as only a portion of the squadron,” explained Maj. Sean Christy, commander of the 393d BGS. “But your operations counterparts go down range as an entire squadron. The move to a BGS aligns us as an Air Force for the maintenance to do the same thing and mirror our pilot counterparts.”

Air Force Force Generation aims to enhance Air Force readiness and establish a more structured and predictable cycle for better preparation of Airmen for distributed, high-end combat operations by allowing focused time for individual and unit training and certification.

“You will see that many fighter units around the world have already made this move to align for that flexibility and those ACE style concepts,” Christy noted. “We will be the first unit in Air Force Global Strike Command to make this move with other units aligning at other bases within the command later this year.”

From an external perspective, it may seem like the same personnel on the flightline generating aircraft and completing the mission, but with a different patch and name. However, Christy highlighted that squadron leadership will be more empowered due to this shift.

“Our Airmen are driven to do what is necessary to be successful and prove it every day on the flightline,” Boyer added. “By expanding their technical capabilities outside of their core career, it expands our capabilities as a whole and better prepares us for tomorrow’s fight.”