In-Depth Review of USAF Cold-War Special Ops

Since our founding 50 years ago, the US Air Force has been responsible to the nation for controlling
and exploiting the air and space environment. We are the nation's Air Force—the only service that provides
air and space power across the spectrum, from basic research to combat operations. In Apollo's
Warriors, Col Michael Haas, USAF, Retired, brings to life the critical, albeit little-known, contributions
US Air Force special operations forces have made to the exercise of air and space power.
The author focuses in particular on the period between the Korean War and the Indochina wars of
1950–79. The Korean War marked the first major use of Air Force special operations capabilities during
the cold war. Capabilities previously employed during the Second World War were quickly resurrected
and used to conduct unconventional warfare missions on the land and sea, as well as in the air.
Once these capabilities were available, USAF special operations personnel found themselves constantly
engaged in psychological, covert, and search and rescue operations far north of the 38th parallel until
the war ended in 1953.