101st Corps Support Group
101st Support Group (Corps) of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) supports the division to include receiving and processing all replacements to Ft. Campbell, providing local and line haul transportation support, operating the Departure/Arrival Airfield Control Group, providing direct and general maintenance support, furnishing medical support to the installation hospital and training for soldiers at Fort Campbell's Noncommissioned Officers Academy.
The 101st Support Group (Corps), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky is composed of a brigade Headquarters company and five support battalions. The 101st Support Group (Corps) is composed of the 129th Support Battalion (Corps), 561st Support Battalion (Corps), 101st Soldier Support Battalion, and 106th Transportation Battalion.
The 101st Support Group (Corps) was originally constituted July 1, 1942, as the 1580th Service Command. After many redesignations, the "Support The Eagle" Group was organized as the U.S. Army Garrison on March 1, 1953, as Headquarters, Special Troops in 1960, as Headquarters Command in 1970, and in March 1979 as Headquarters Command/Eagle Support Brigade. On May 25, 1989, the Brigade was again redesignated as the 101st Corps Support Group (Provisional), and organized as a TOE unit on Oct. 1, 1990, as 101st Support Group (Corps).
The 101st SG (C) is comprised of the major non-divisional units. The SG (C) is involved in virtually every aspect of support provided to the Division. This ranges from personnel assigned to the various installation support directorates to soldiers assigned to SG(C)'s combat and combat service support battalions and companies.
This multi-faceted support includes receiving and processing all replacements to Ft. Campbell, providing local and line haul transportation support, operating the Departure/Arrival Airfield Control Group, providing direct and general maintenance support, furnishing medical support to the installation hospital and training for soldiers at Fort Campbell's Noncommissioned Officers Academy.
During a 1999 rotation at the National Training Center (NTC) in which logisticians played key roles, the major training objective was the reception, staging, onward movement, and integration (RSOI) process. Several units participated from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky: 1st Infantry Brigade Task Force; 101st Aviation Brigade(-); and parts of the 101st Corps Support Group (CSG), including the 561st Corps Support Battalion (CSB). Also participating was the 3d Squadron, 7th Cavalry, 3d Infantry Division (Mechanized), from Fort Stewart, Georgia. The support operations section of the 101st CSG functioned as materiel managers for the rotation. The 561st CSB replicated the division main support battalion while performing their traditional CSB role. The task force conducted a strategic deployment via sealift to Port Hueneme, California, and executed a ground and air self-deployment to the NTC.
Soon after the task force began force-on-force and live-fire operations, the planners had to begin planning for regeneration. They made plans to turn in the equipment and supplies, turn over the bivouac and maintenance areas to incoming units or to the installation, and redeploy all soldiers back to their home stations. When the 1st Brigade commander realized how much of his combat power was being focused on the RSOI process, he decided to allow the 101st CSG to plan, coordinate, and manage the regeneration process. This allowed the executive officers from the brigade headquarters to focus on the fight and not on regeneration. The 101st CSG commander became the single point of contact for interfacing between the Theater Support Command (TSC) at NTC and the task force, which was a new concept for the NTC and the division.
The CSG commander attended daily maintenance meetings, shifted maintenance priorities as needed, reallocated inspectors based on unit requirements, and assessed the progress of the turn-in process on a daily basis. With this information, the CSG could ensure that the correct number of soldiers was present to complete the regeneration process.
The role of the CSG in RSOI and regeneration in this exercise could be duplicated easily by any other CSG or division support command (DISCOM). RSOI is a critical operational challenge, not just a logistics problem. The logistician can play a vital role by anticipating the need to be an interface between a TSC and supported units.
