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381st Training Group [381st TRG]

The 381st Training Group (381st TRG) provides training for the nation's space and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) operations and ICBM and Air Launched Missile (ALM) maintenance forces. This Air Education and Training Command (AETC) organization is a tenant unit located on an 80 acre site at Vandenberg AFB.

The 381st TRG provides qualification training for ICBM, space surveillance, missile warning, spacelift, and satellite command and control operators. It also performs initial and advanced maintenance training on ALM and ICBM's. It conducts training in joint space fundamentals and associated computer maintenance. The group also conducts qualification and orientation training for Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) staff and senior-level personnel, as well as instructor enhancement in support of operational units.

In July 1993, responsibility for missile training was transferred from Air Combat Command to AETC. In September 1994, responsibility for space training was transferred from AFSPC to AETC and consolidated with the missile training units into the 381st Training Group. In October 1996, the space training squadrons moved from Colorado Springs to Vandenberg to further complete the unit's consolidation.

The group consists of five squadrons. The 381st Training Support Squadron provides faculty training, interactive courseware, registrar services, facility management, and resource management and procurement. The four other squadrons are dedicated to student training. The 392nd Training Squadron (TRS) conducts Enlisted Space Operations Training, Undergraduate Space and Missile Training, and ICBM Initial Qualification Training (IQT). The 532nd TRS provides courses for ICBM, ALM, and spacelift maintenance. The 533TRS conducts space surveillance and early warning training. Detachment 1, 533TRS, located at Schriever AFB, CO, performs training for command, missile warning, air defense and space operations at Cheyenne Mountain. The 534TRS provides spacelift and satellite command and control IQT. All in all, the group has graduated more than 6000 students from more than 100 different courses.

The 381st TRG is linked to the Air Force global engagement vision and its supporting core competencies through it's mission of providing the highest quality space and missile operations and maintenance training for the Air Force and other agencies.

The 381st TRG traces its origins to the 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy) which was activated at Gowen Field, ID, on 3 November 1942. The group moved to Ephrata AAB, WA, where it was partially manned and then to Pyote AAB, TX, where 381st crews began their training in B-17s. In May 1943, the group began its overseas operations with the Eighth Air Force. The 381st operated chiefly against strategic objectives on the European Continent from June 1943 to April 1945. Bomb crews from the 381st saw action against Villacoublay, Amiens, St. Nazaire, Le Mans, Offenberg, Kassel, Leipzig, Gelsenkirchen, nitrate works in Norway, aircraft plants in Brussels, U-boat yards at Kiel, and ball-bearing works in Schweinfurt. The group's accurate performance against the shipyards at Bremen despite persistent enemy fighter attacks and heavy flak earned the unit its first Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) on 8 October 1943. A second DUC was awarded for similar action on 11 January 1944 during a mission against aircraft factories in central Germany. The 381st Bombardment Group participated in Big Week (20-25 February 1944), the Normandy invasion, the airborne assault on Holland, the Battle of the Bulge, the Allied crossing of the Rhine, and the final Allied push into Germany. After hostilities ended, the group transported repatriated prisoners of war from Germany to France.

The 381st Bombardment Group was inactivated on 28 August 1945 at Sioux Falls AAFld, SD. The group was re-designated the 381st Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) and was activated in the Reserve at Offutt Field, NE, from 24 July 1947 to 27 June 1949.

The group was redesignated by Strategic Air Command (SAC) as the 381st Strategic Missile Wing and was organized at McConnell AFB, KS on 1 March 1962. Operational readiness training for the missile crews took place mostly at Vandenberg AFB, CA. The unit received its first Titan II ICBMs in January 1963. Its squadrons, the 532d Strategic Missile Squadron (ICBM-Titan) and 533d SMS (ICBM-Titan), became operational in December of the same year. The 381st was deactivated in 1985 after providing twenty-plus years of strategic deterrence and winning numerous awards, including the SAC missile combat competition Blanchard Trophy in 1972, 1975, 1980, and 1983.

On 1 April 1994, the 381st was re-designated by Air Education and Training Command (AETC) as the 381st Training Group Provisional under Second Air Force and located at Vandenberg AFB, CA. The group, which was activated on 30 September 1994, is responsible for the consolidation of all space and missile training for Air Force Space Command. This consolidation involves the oversight of five squadrons (392d, 532d, 533rd, and 534th Training Squadrons as well as 381st Training Support Squadron) teaching all aspects of missile operations, space operations, and missile maintenance.

The 392nd Training Squadron (TRS) is responsible for Undergraduate Space and Missile Training (USMT) and missile Initial Qualification Training (IQT). The 532nd TRS teaches missile maintenance for both ICBMs and ALCMs and is one of the original missile squadrons assigned to the 381st SMW. The 533rd TRS, another original missile squadron and a training detachment at Schriever AFB CO, provide IQT for attack warning, space surveillance, and counterdrug missions. The 534th TRS trains crews in satellite command and control through its IQT program. The 381st Training Support Squadron provides faculty and staff training and support for both students and instructors throughout the 381st TRG. All five squadrons are located at Vandenberg AFB, CA.

The mission of the 381st Training Group is to provide quality training to produce the finest space and missile operators and maintainers for the US Air Force and the nation's defense.