1st Transportation Movement Control Agency (TMCA)
The 1st Theater Movement Control Agency (TMCA), a subordinate organization of the 21st TSC, is the USAREUR Executive Agent for movement control, the USAREUR Movement Control System (UMCS) and surface distribution. The 1st TMCA provides for the transport and movement control of U.S. Forces, their equipment, and materiel and sustainment supplies into, out of and within a theater of operations during contingencies, at war and in peace. (See USAREUR Regulation 55-3, USAREUR Movement Control System Program, for more information on the UMCS.)
Key missions currently performed by 1st TMCA in support of contingency operations in the European theater include:
- Functioning as the USAREUR executive agent for movement control.
- Providing mission planning for strategic deployment, sustainment and redeployment.
- Providing theater level liaison to host nations and for contracted assets (rail, barge, sea, road).
- Participating with task force staffs to provide UMCS. Assisting V Corps and divisional staffs in movement planning and execution.
- Coordinating and interacting with NATO, UN and NGOs.
- Providing movement tracking and ITV for USAREUR.
- The 1st TMCA commands the 39th Transportation Battalion (MC) located in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and the 14th Transportation Battalion (MC) located in Vicenza, Italy. The 27th Transportation Battalion (MC) located in Wiesbaden, Germany is assigned to 3rd COSCOM within V Corps and receives technical guidance and assistance from 1st TMCA. All of the MC battalions provide support in designated areas of responsibility.
Movement control in the European theater operates on the basis of centralized control and decentralized execution. The 1st Transportation Movement Control Agency (1st TMCA), headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, is the theater movements manager. It accomplishes its mission through command and control of two movement control (MC) battalions and through coordination with the 27th Transportation Battalion (MC), which is the movement control center for V Corps. The 1st TMCA's two MC battalions are the 14th Transportation Battalion (MC) and the 39th Transportation Battalion (MC).
The MC battalions have movement control teams (MCT's) and air terminal movement control teams (ATMCT's) that are responsible for coordinating and monitoring transportation services for Department of Defense and other designated agencies located or operating in their geographic area of responsibility (AOR).
The MCT's are divided into branch movement control teams (BMCT's), highway movement control teams (HMCT's), and rail movement management teams (RMMT's). The BMCT's provide transportation support to units. The HMCT's, which are collocated with the German regional highway movement headquarters, process and coordinate road clearances. The RMMT's are responsible for rail issues. The MCT's usually are split further into four sections: highway clearance, export, containers, and freight. (The structure and functions of a port MCT differ somewhat from the inland MCT, but the procedures they follow are essentially the same.)
The BMCT is a subordinate unit of the MCT and provides freight and unit movement transportation services to all customers within its AOR. It is the first stop for customers seeking transportation support. The BMCT processes all less-than-release-unit (LRU) shipment requests and forwards all release-unit shipment requests to the MCT freight section for mode determination. LRU shipments weigh less than 10,000 pounds and their dimensions do not require theater movement clearance.
The HMCT is a subordinate element of the MCT. It functions as a liaison between U.S. Forces and German movement control authorities to process road movement requests for all U.S. military traffic originating within its AOR. The HMCT's primary function is to receive, verify, and coordinate all road movement requests and issue the approved road clearance according to the provisions of U.S. Army, Europe, Regulation 55-1, U.S. Army Motor Vehicle Operations on Public Roads; and German highway regulations. Convoys and movements of overweight or oversize loads require a road clearance.
The RMMT is the MCT's single point of contact for rail issues between U.S. Forces and the Deutsche Bundesbahn (the German railway system). The RMMT works closely with the freight section to ensure proper coordination and use of rail assets and assists units as necessary throughout the entire rail movement process.
The Air Terminal Movement Control Team [ATMCT] is the Army liaison with the Air Force. It arranges transport, coordinates loading, and expedites movement of personnel and materiel (inbound, intratheater, and retrograde) through Air Force terminals. There are three ATMCT's in Europe-one in Italy (Aviano); and two in Germany (Rhein Main and Ramstein Air Base). The procedures for all three are generally the same. However, Ramstein Air Base is the primary airfield for inbound and outbound shipments of military cargo and personnel. Units that want to ship on Air Force C-141 Starlifters must send a TCMD through the local BMCT. The TCMD contains the basic cargo and movement data that the ATMCT needs to book the cargo on a plane. When cargo arrives at Ramstein, the Air Force unloads the plane using Air Force materials handling equipment. The pallets are offloaded in the pallet yard. Loose cargo is sent to the warehouse, where it is sorted by customer. It takes 6 to 10 hours to offload a plane completely. ATMCT pallet yard personnel check the pallets against the air manifests. Then the pallets are stacked in trailer loads for throughput either to the consignee (single or multistops) or to the TDC. Sequence sheets are filled out and given to the Air Force. Air Force personnel create the TCMD and load the trailer. ATMCT personnel review the TCMD, check it against the trailer, assign a TMR number, and call the 37th Transportation Command to pick up the trailer.
The 1st TMCA is the USAREUR transportation fund manager. It allocates funds, through the battalions, to the MCT's by issuing a fund certification authority (FCA) commercial funding memorandum. In short, the FCA provides to the MCT the authority to cite and certify fund availability directly for commercial transportation of U.S. Government freight. The MCT then allocates the appropriate funds to each BMCT. Only the commander or traffic manager of the MCT has the authority to authorize the use of commercial transportation (within allocated fund cite authority) and only when military highway assets are not available. Limitations on the use of these funds (called P42 funds) are explained in the FCA memo. Moves not funded by P42 funds usually are covered by a unit's own fund cite or special funds allocated for a particular exercise or contingency.
The 1st Transportation Movement Control Agency was activated on 18 February 1986. However, as the former movements control and management element of the 4th Transportation Command, its history is firmly linked with that of the 4th Transportation Command which traces it's history back to March 1942, when it was initially activated as the 4th Port of Debarkation at Fort Lawton, Washington.
In the succeeding years, having been redesignated, deactivated and reactivated several times, and serving in many locations in the United States, Europe and Vietnam, the unit was reactivated in May 1975 from members and equipment of the US Army Transportation Brigade. In February 1981, the unit was redesignated as a command to reflect changes in the organization. It then became necessary, in February 1986, to restructure the Assistant Chief of staff, Movements to accommodate the functions of a Movement Control Agency with the activation of the 1st Transportation Movement Control Agency (TMCA).
1st TMCA was established as a command charged with the responsibility for a vast spectrum of movement control and traffic management support throughout the European theater. Creation of the 1st TMCA was part of the Transportation Operational and Organization Plan (TROOP), designed to streamline transportation management and improve support.
United States Army Europe Order Number 146-16, dated 11 October 1988, reassigned the 1st Transportation Movement Control Agency to the United States Army, Europe, effective 16 October 1988. The unit was later redesignated in March 1995 as the 1st Transportation Movement Control Agency.
