On October 1st, the U.S. Air Force transferred its combat search and rescue (CSAR) force to the Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The force of some 7,000 troops, and a hundred fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, won't change much. CSAR serves around the world, and spend most of their time training or looking for civilians who are lost on land or sea. It's rare for military aircraft to go down in peace time, and what CSAR has to prepare for are wartime situations where they have to go get a pilot who parachuted into enemy held territory. Since the Vietnam war, such missions often required help from the U.S. Army Special Forces. Now that air force CSAR are part of SOCOM, it will be a lot easier to train with commando units from all three services, and take advantage of the larger equipment budget SOCOM has for its troops.