The 908th Airlift Wing is a C-130 theater airlift unit assigned to Air Force Reserve Command. The wing is stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. 908th Airlift Wing's mission is to recruit, organize and train Air Force reservists for active duty in time of war, national emergency or when otherwise required. When mobilized, the mission of the 908th Airlift Wing is to provide theater airlift forces to the supported theater commander. Units The 908th Airlift Wing consists of the following major units: 908th Operations Group 357th Airlift Squadron 908th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron 908th Operations Support Squadron 908th Maintenance Group 908th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron 908th Maintenance Squadron 908th Maintenance Operations Flight 908th Mission Support Group 25th Aerial Port Squadron 908th Civil Engineering Squadron 908th Logistics Readiness Squadron 908th Force Support Squadron 908th Security Forces Squadron 908th Aeromedical Staging Squadron Mission The 908th operates eight Lockheed C-130H Hercules cargo aircraft. It has approximately 1,200 officers and airmen who serve the unit as reservists, normally spending one weekend a month and two weeks of annual tour per year with the unit. The day-to-day operations of the 908th are handled by a group of 175 civil servants known as Air Reserve Technicians, who also serve as reservists, and a small number of civilian employees who do not have reserve status. 908th reservists train and perform airlift missions in support of U.S. humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts worldwide. History Need for reserve troop carrier groups During the first half of 1955, the Air Force began detaching Air Force Reserve squadrons from their parent wing locations to separate sites. The concept offered several advantages. Communities were more likely to accept the smaller squadrons than the large wings and the location of separate squadrons in smaller population centers would facilitate recruiting and manning. Continental Air Command (ConAC)'s plan called for placing Air Force Reserve units at fifty-nine installations located throughout the United States. When these relocations were completed in 1959, reserve wing headquarters and wing support elements would typically be on one base, along with one (or in some cases two) of the wing's flying squadrons, while the remaining flying squadrons were spread over thirty-five Air Force, Navy and civilian airfields under what was called the Detached Squadron Concept. Although this dispersal was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult.