Mission
The 1st Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron (1 SOCES) fulfills a variety of missions supporting the entire installation. The 1 SOCES builds, operates, maintains, and protects all of the base infrastructure including buildings, roadways, airfield pavements, utility services (such as water, gas, sewage treatment, and electricity), and the surrounding environment. They also provide complete services for Fire and Emergency Services (FES), Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), emergency management with war readiness support, unaccompanied housing, privatized housing, environmental support, real property accountability, and various other base-wide requirements such as custodial cleaning, grounds maintenance, and refuse disposal.
The total base infrastructure inventory includes 1,223 facilities containing over 4.8 million square feet; 10,000 linear feet of runway; 970,689 square yards of various aircraft taxiways and parking ramps; 369 miles of base roadways; 283 miles of various utility service lines; a million gallon per day wastewater treatment plant, 404 privatized homes, and 8 dorms with a capacity of 824 Airmen. This entire infrastructure is located on over 6,343 acres of land, of which 52 percent is considered environmentally sensitive wetlands. 1 SOCES EOD provides emergency response support to 34 off-base counties in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. To ensure customer needs are properly met in accordance with the wing motto, “Any Time ... Any Place”, the 1 SOCES provides 24-hour/7-day-a-week emergency response, living up to their motto, "Always There, Anywhere."
1 SOCES’s mission is to “Build, Operate, Maintain, and Protect a resilient Hurlburt Field, and worldwide forward presence, as a weapon system platform through properly organized, trained, and equipped multi-capable Mission Ready Airmen”.
Lineage
Constituted 16th Aviation Squadron (Separate) on 6 Apr 1942.
Activated on 14 Apr 1942.
Redesignated 16th Aviation Squadron on 1 Apr 1943.
Disbanded on 30 Apr 1944.
Reconstituted, and redesignated 16th Civil Engineering Squadron, on 31 Jul 1985.
Consolidated (1 Oct 1993) with the 1st Special Operations Civil Engineering Squadron, which was constituted on 23 Feb 1993. Activated on 24 Mar 1993.
Redesignated: 16th Civil Engineering Squadron on 1 Oct 1993; 16th Civil Engineer Squadron on 1 Mar 1994.
Redesignated: 1st Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron on 16 Nov 2006.
Assignments
AAF Southeast Air Corps Training Center (later, AAF Eastern Flying Training Command), 14 Apr 1942-30 Apr 1944.
1st Special Operations Support (later, 16th Support, then 16th Mission Support) Group, 1 Oct 1993-15 November 2006.
1st Special Operations Mission Support Group, 16 November 2006-.
Stations
Spence Fld, GA, 14 Apr 1942 - 30 Apr 1944.
Eglin Air Force Auxiliary Airfield #9 (Hurlburt Field), FL, 31 Jul 1985 - present
Honors
Service Streamers
World War II
American Theater
Decorations
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device 1 Jun 1997 - 31 May 1999 1 Jul 2003 - 30 Jun 2005 1 Jul 2005 - 30 Jun 2007
Meritorious Unit Awards
1 Jul 2007 - 19 Jun 2009
1 Oct 2009 - 30 Sept 2011
1 Oct 2011 - 30 Sept 2013
1 Oct 2013 - 30 Sept 2015
Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards
[24 Mar 1993] - 15 Apr 1994
1 Jun 1995 - 31 May 1997
1 Jul 1999 - 30 Jun 2001
1 Jul 2001 - 30 Jun 2003
Emblem Significance
Ultramarine blue and Air Force yellow are the Air Force colors. Blue alludes to the sky, the primary theater of Air Force operations. Yellow refers to the sun and the excellence required of Air Force personnel. The bull is a traditional Air Force Civil Engineer symbol representing "Prime BEEF" (Prime Base Engineer Emergency Forces) the basic description for all civil engineer career fields. The wings of the bull are also a traditional Air Force symbol representing the global reach of Air Force Civil Engineers. The dagger is derived from the AFSOC patch and is emblematic of the unit's "commando engineer" heritage in the support of the Air Force and Department of Defense special operations worldwide. The background supports the squadron's unique role in special operations, which are often conducted under the cover of night and of a covert nature.