The 23rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron deactivated and the 74th and 75th Fighter Generation Squadrons activated at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, Jan. 14, 2022.

This new structure, titled Combat Oriented Maintenance Organization, or COMO, levels the maintenance organizational structure and transitions aircraft maintenance units into fighter generation squadrons.

A fighter generation squadron is a squadron composed of maintainers responsible for airpower well-being and production. The fighter generation squadron will be paired with a complementary fighter squadron, and the two units will work together to ensure their squadron’s aircraft are ready to soar.

“Today, the inactivation of the 23rd AMXS and the simultaneous activations of the 74th FGS and 75th FGS are driven by our transition to COMO,” said Col. Jason Purdy, 23rd Maintenance Group commander. “This organizational change is being taken as our Air Force continues its evolution and strives to improve synchronization between maintenance and operations.”

Although separate units, the 74th and 75th FGS have similar plans to maintain a mission-ready status for the A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft as well as the Airmen of the squadron.

“Men and women of the 74th FGS -- this is special,” said Maj. Lawrence Morris, 74th FGS commander. “No man thinks more highly than I do of your families, your dedication to serve and your abilities to accomplish the mission. I look forward to joining the team and embarking on our journey to greater heights.”

Similarly, the 75th FGS plan on maintaining fundamental processes and readiness while discovering new ways to execute the mission.

“As the new commander of the 75th FGS,” said Maj. Ammon Hennessee, 75th FGS commander, “our squadron can expect that we will look for improvements to the way we do business through continuous process improvement, theory of constraints and exploring new metrics that are helpful to our aircraft maintenance managers and increase our capabilities.”

These changes are all about developing the two new squadrons in a way that achieves not only their mission, but the mission of a Lead Wing while emulating the distinction of the former 23rd AMXS.

“I said this 3 months ago during the activation of our two rescue generation squadrons,” Purdy said, “when soldiers, sailors, Airmen, or Marines are preparing for a combat ground mission, 3 of the things they pray for are more ammo, a fully loaded A-10 overhead and our Combat Search and Rescue teams on call to pull them out.

“I’m fortunate to be able to entrust the A-10 side of this “can’t fail” mission to two outstanding maintenance officers,” he continued.

The activation of the 74th and 75th FGS finalizes the transition of all aircraft maintenance organizations, assigned to Moody AFB, to the new COMO structure.