Squadrons / Flights / Elements

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jassen2

5-Year Member
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Nov 24, 2009
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Being a non-military person, and just learning that my DS is on G25, can somebody be kind enough to enlighten me on what squadrons / flights / elements do.

Questions:
1. Do roommates belong to the same flights ?
2. Who heads each element / flight / squadron ?
3. Are activities done on per element or flight or it is always by squadron ? Or are there activities unique to each group ?

Thanks.
 
jassen2 said:
Being a non-military person, and just learning that my DS is on G25, can somebody be kind enough to enlighten me on what squadrons / flights / elements do.

Questions:
1. Do roommates belong to the same flights ?
2. Who heads each element / flight / squadron ?
3. Are activities done on per element or flight or it is always by squadron ? Or are there activities unique to each group ?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming G25 means he is in Guts, A flight, which would then translate into being in CS-25 for the academic year.

For BCT, a squadron is comprised of four flights, each flight containing about 35 basics. Then each flight has its corresponding academic year squadron, so Guts A flight will go to CS-25, B flight will go to CS-26 and so on. Thus, the basics that are in your son's flight for basic will be the same group of guys/gals that he will spend the year with.

To answer your questions:
1. Yes, roomates are from the same flight.
2. Elements are technically run by the 2* cadre, but the element is not really important in BCT. Everything is done as a flight/squadron. Elements are more important during the ac year. The flight commander is a firstie that is from your squadron and the squad comm is a firstie from one of the four squads that make up the BCT squadron (from CS-25-28 for Guts).
3. The important level of organization during BCT is the flight, since that is the group of people you will be with for the rest of the year. Training will vary by flight. Then the squadron is semi important. You will compete with your squadron during intramurals and field day, and march to lunch as a squadron.

Hope that helps and makes some sense! Let me know if not.
 
Aww, I was in Guts as a basic--"No Guts No Glory" then I went to CS-26, or Country Club 26 as we called it. My husband ,tho I didn't know him at the time, wasn't so lucky, he was in Guts, but a different flight, so he then went into 28th squad--the anti country club. Training really does vary by flight!
 
Well, it's a hierarchy of structure. In the "Real World" of the air force, we'll use the air force academy as an example. There is 1 WING. That is basically all 4400+/- cadets at the academy. Well, it's hard to manage 4400 people, so they are broken up into 4 groups. We'll call them group 1, group2, group3, and group 4. Basically, 1100 cadets in each group. Well, that's better organization for those at the TOP of the food chain, (WING) but for those at the group level, it's still a little difficult to manage. So, each of these GROUPS are then broken up into 10 SQUADRONS. Basically 110 cadets in each squadron. Each of these levels has a person, and staff, in charge. I.e. there is a WING commander and his/her staff. There is a GROUP commander and his/her staff. Same with the squadron. And you report to those above you. e.g. squadron commander reports to the group commander, who reports to the wing commander. And, the squadron is broken up into smaller units called flights. And the flights are broken down further to elements.

Now, during basic training, it's only 1 class of around 1300 students. So, there's really no need for such a hierarchy. So, they basically start at the SQUADRON level. There are 10 squadrons (A-J). In those 10 squadrons, they have 4 flights. Those numbers are cumulative. E.g. A1, A2, A3, A4, B5, B6, B7, B8, C9, C10..... G25..... J40. Now, WHY this numbering system. Well, remember when I used the example of the academy (Post BCT) where there's a wing, group, squadron.... Well, 4 groups with 10 squadrons each, is 40 squadrons. So, your son/daughter in G25 will be in squadron #25 when s/he graduates BCT and becomes a cadet. That is the 3rd group of the wing, which is made up of squadrons 21-30.

As to "What do they do"? That depends. An element (8 people+/-) might be in charge of a small detail. A flight (36 people +/-) might be doing something that requires more people. The squadron (140 people +/-) do other things. Wing, Group, Squadron, Flight, and element are simply different levels of a hierarchy that is more manageable. You are ALWAYS part of something LARGER than yourself. You might be in an element, but that element is part of a flight, which is part of a squadron, which is part of a group, which is part of the wing. Hope I didn't confuse you too much. mike...
 
Thanks for your replies. So much to learn !!

So when my G-FlightA son completes BCT (hopefully), he (and the rest of his flight) will then go to Squadron 25 for the academic year. Will he then stay on Squadron 25 for all four years or do they move from one squadron to another ? If they move, is it by request or the staff determines it ?

Thanks.
 
Following Doolie year, the rising 3 degrees (soon to be sophomores) will be sent to "new" squadrons based on another formula (academics/athletics/gender, etc) to balance the squadrons fairly. They will remain in that squadron until graduation. It essentially gives all Doolies a fresh start from the squadron that trained them.
 
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