BUFDRVR - about new squadron structure

I didn't want to hijack the "Joining the USAF" thread with somthing
unrelated, so I'll start a new thread to respond to something you wrote
over there.

As of 1 OCT 2002 you are correct, kind of.. There are now Ops Squadrons
and Maintenance Squadrons. I'll pleade ignorance on how they've got the
maintenance squadrons broken up (crew chiefs in one, hydraulics in
another, etc.), however, from 1 OCT 1993 till 1 OCT 2002 we were all
(except the back shop guys) in one squadron. This current "break up" is
considered a mistake Air Force wide.

It might be wise to keep in mind that the different MAJCOMs still tend to
have their own ways of going about things. I work in an AMC/AFRC unit.
Prior to the "split ops and maintenance back up" decision, all mechanics
at the base I work at were already part of their own squadrons. The
"backline" shops (e.g., ELIN or E&E, Hydraulics, Propulsion, AFIN or
Avionics or GAC, CNAD or Com/Nav, Aero Repair, etc.) all belonged to an
"MXS" (Maintenance) squadron, falling under the Logistics Group. The
flightline workers (crew chiefs and all the specialists who also have
flightline positions) belonged to an "AGS" unit (Aircraft Generation).

After 1 Oct 2002, the MXS unit stayed just the way it was all along, with
a few exceptions that don't even matter - it now falls under the
Maintenance Group rather than Logistics. The internal structure of the
MXS unit was also reorganized very slightly (e.g., one shop switching to
a different branch - flight - within the squadron). From a worker bee
perspective, it really had no impact at all on us. It only changed from
the perspective of who actually oversees (manages) each unit and flight.
LG still exists, but I believe its limited to SUPS (Supply) and perhaps
Contracting and TRANS.

The flightline side, from what I can best determine, didn't do much of
anything more than getting renamed from AGS to "AMXS" (Aircraft
Maintenance) and also moving from the LG to the MG. They were a separate
unit from the flying squadrons all along (btw, we have 2 flying squadrons
that fly a single fleet of aircraft maintained by a single AMXS unit).
There was one other change internally, AFAIK. They were previously setup
into 4 or so different flights (2 day shift + 2 night shift flights
splitting the responsibility for assigned aircraft in half). These
flights were not selective based on AFSC's. 1 flight had crew chiefs,
electricians, pointy heads, hydraulics, etc. into a single group. The
flights, I believe, are now split up based on specialty (crew chiefs =
one flight, specialists = another flight, etc.). Basically, it went back
to what it was when I was still active duty and under ACC.

When I was active duty, yes we were part of the flying squadron as well.
I'll have to ask my friends who are still stationed there how the
maintenance units are setup. Like you, I'll have to plead ignorance for
now, but I suspect they also went to the AMXS (flightline) and MXS
(backshops) structure.

Personally, the only thing that changing "AGS" to "AMXS" seemed to have
accomplished is to really confuse the heck out of those of us who are
assigned to "MXS". We were never briefed about the AGS units changing
names. The first time I ever saw "AMXS" mentioned, I thought they were
talking about us in MXS.