MSS, SVS merge to form Force Support Squadron

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Bryan Bouchard
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  The 56th Mission Support Squadron and 56th Services Squadron combined at Luke Air Force Base to form the 56th Force Support Squadron in a ceremony Feb. 26.

Maj. Carol Gordon, formerly the 56th MSS commander, became the first commander of the 56th FSS, and with the new job title comes new opportunities.

"The transition will be better for all the customers when the services provided are under one commander," she said.

In 2007, the Air Force started testing this concept at several bases to streamline processes, maximize customer service and cut costs associated with maintaining separate organizations. While the change will reshape the traditional support group structure, the change will be virtually invisible to people at Luke.

"The beauty is that all of the 'activities' such as outdoor recreation, the child development center, Airman Leadership School, etc., will remain as-is," said Maj. Will Manley, former 56th SVS commander. "There won't be any management changes at that level. However, our training programs and readiness programs do merge, which will save some manpower and some of the activities will change flights."

Major Manley is now the deputy support group commander and will be leaving Luke in June to assume his new job as the deputy commandant of the Defense Information School at Fort George G. Meade, Md. The two commanders and their units have been working since last year on the gradual transition to the new FSS concept.

"For the merger of SVS and MSS, we have had flights transitioning since last summer in an effort to locate all the right organizations to the right places to see if the new organization would work for us at Luke," Major Gordon said. "The flights are simply aligned differently; it is the flight chiefs that are changing, but the customer really won't be impacted by that."

Overall, the biggest change Luke Airmen will see is that the job of supporting the wing staff agencies, which was traditionally done by the MSS, now transitions to the 56th Comptroller Squadron, itself already a wing staff agency.