The mission of the 23^rd STS is to:

	Deploy specially organized, trained, and equipped forces to survey and assess assault zones.
	Establish and control landing and drop zones in the most austere and inhospitable regions of the world.
	Set up and operate forward area refueling and rearming points.
	Establish and manage casualty collection, triage and evacuation sites.
	Participate in Air Force Special Operations Command foreign internal defense efforts.
	Provide special operations terminal attack control capability in hostile environments.

Special tactics teams employ into hostile or denied areas via a variety of tactical insertion methods including:

	Static line or military free fall parachuting.
	SCUBA or amphibious means.
	Overland infiltration (mounted or unmounted).
	Fixed or rotary wing aircraft.

Special Tactics personnel are skilled in demolitions, weapons, air traffic control, small unit tactics, trauma medical response, communications, and forward weather observation. Special Tactics teams routinely employ in support of contingencies and humanitarian aid missions worldwide.