311th Air Base Group The 311th Air Base Group ( 311 ABG ) was a group of the United States Air Force based out of the now - closed Brooks City - Base in San Antonio , Texas . Its mission was to enhance and sustain human performance for dominant air and space power . History . The 311th Air Base Group ' s origins went back to 19 Jan . 1918 , when the Medical Research Laboratory was formed at Hazelhurst Field , N . Y . In 1922 , this laboratory was redesignated the School of Aviation Medicine , and four years later it moved to Brooks Field which was a center for primary flight training . Both organizations moved to Randolph Field in October 1931 . The school moved back to Brooks during the summer of 1959 and the base became the headquarters for the Aerospace Medical Center the same year . The center represented the initial step in placing the management of aerospace medical research , education and clinical medicine under one command . Both the school and center were reassigned from Air Training Command to Air Force Systems Command in November 1961 and assigned to the new organization , Aerospace Medical Division . On 21 Nov . 1963 , President John F . Kennedy dedicated four new buildings in the complex that housed the Aerospace Medical Division . This was his last official act before his assassination in Dallas the following day . In 1986 , the Department of Defense began streamlining its organization as a result of the Packard Commission recommendations . This division ' s acquisition mission emphasized its human - centered technologies . It restructured its functional areas and was renamed the Human Systems Division on 6 Feb . 1987 . In December 1990 , the Air Force Systems Command underwent a major restructuring which consolidated 16 laboratories nationwide into four . Brooks Air Force Base and the Human Systems Division became home of one of the " super labs , " the Armstrong Laboratory . On 1 July 1992 , the Human Systems Division was renamed the Human Systems Center as part of the structuring of the new Air Force Materiel Command . The command was activated 1 July 1992 , when the Air Force Logistics Command and Air Force Systems Command were integrated . In October 1997 , the Air Force consolidated its four super labs ( Armstrong , Rome , Phillips , and Wright Labs ) into one lab , the Air Force Research Laboratory ( AFRL ) , headquartered at Wright - Patterson AFB . The four laboratories ' 25 directorates were streamlined into ten directorates . The Armstrong Laboratory ' s former functions and organizations at Brooks ( minus some that were transferred to the Human Systems Center and U . S . Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine ) became the Human Effectiveness Directorate ( Armstrong Research Site ) of AFRL . The Human Effectiveness Directorate then reported directly to Headquarters AFRL and no longer to the Center commander at Brooks as in the past . In a further effort to streamline facilities , improve quality and cut costs , the Human Systems Center was placed under the command of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright Patterson AFB . On 1 Oct . 1998 , the HSC was redesignated the 311th Human Systems Wing . It was announced on 5 October 2009 that the 311th Human Systems Wing was reorganized into the 311th Air Base Group , a move designed to better manage Air Force operations at Brooks City - Base as the installation moves toward the BRAC - mandated complete closure in September 2011 . The activation of an air base group allowed the staff to provide key oversight of closure functions , while other support activities were provided by units at Lackland and Randolph . Subordinate organizations . 311th Mission Support Group ( 311 MSG ) Performance Enhancement Directorate Air Force Institute of Operational Health USAF School of Aerospace Medicine