Black Hats and White Hats

On 1 March 1983, the United States Air Force activated the 23rd Air Force to consolidate the Air Force Special Operations Forces (AFSOF) and the Air Rescue and Recovery Service (ARRS). The 23rd Air Force stewardship of AFSOF and "Rescue" forces lasted until 1989, when the Military Airlift Command separated the two communities. Although brief, the 23 Air Force experience provides sufficient data for a thorough analysis of the effect of organizational culture and institutional agendas on the evolution of a nascent organization. The basic hypothesis explored in this study is that culture and institutional agendas significantly affected the rise and fall of the 23rd Air Force.