17th Airlift Squadron

The 17th Airlift Squadron is one of four active duty C-17A Globemaster III units at Charleston AFB, South Carolina.

The 17th Airlift Squadron is commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel, who serves as head of the squadron and the pilots. The Chief Loadmaster is in charge of the loadmasters, the First Sergeant takes charge of the few support military personnel and civilians working in the squadron.

The 17th was responsible for being the first unit to set up forward deployed C-17 staging operations, at the start of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, creating the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (EAS) .

The 17th Airlift Squadron recently stepped up to the plate once more and created another EAS. For the first time, two C-17 Squadrons became deployed in forward theater locations, supporting Operations Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom. The 817th Area of Responsibility split. On June 1 2006, the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron was created and launched its first crew 15 minutes later.

Unlike previous C-17 deployments, this one actually had the squadron itself doing all the flying from "an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia." The 17th helped initiate a whole new concept in C-17 operations in that this was the first time that the airframe was employed like traditional intratheater airlift assets such as the C-12, C-20, C-21 or the C-130. However, unlike traditional tactical airlift assets that are under the direct command of the theater commander, the 817th EAS is headquartered out of theater.