310th Theater Support Command
[310th Theater Army Area Command]
The Army is redesignating Theater Army Area Commands as Theater Support Commands. The change in Army doctrine provides more focus in the battlefield to theater logistics with one logistics command responsible for all logistics. The AC/RC integration concept developed by USARJ/9th TAACOM and 310th TAACOM in 1996 called for alignment of the 310th TAACOM to the 9th TAACOM with the eventual reorganization as a single multi-component TSC, split-stationed at Camp Zama and Fort Belvoir, VA. Since that time, the integration of the two units followed three distinct parallel axes: plans, force structure, and training.
The last Theater Army Area Command went away in October 2000 as U.S. Army Japan reorganized and activated a multi-composition unit formed mostly of reservists. The 9th Theater Support Command, activated 14 October 2000, consists of about 40 active-duty soldiers at Camp Zama, Japan, and 400 Army Reserve troops at Fort Belvoir, Va., located 9,000 miles and 14 hours away. The senior logistics headquarters in the Army Reserve, the 53-year-old 310th Theater Support Command, cased its colors and merged with the 40-year-old 9th Theater Army Area Command - the Army's last TAACOM. They formed the new 9th Theater Support Command with headquarters in Japan, but the bulk of its people in Virginia.
The senior combat service support element of the Army Reserve, the 310th TAACOM was headquartered at the John S. Mosby Army Reserve Center at Fort Belvoir, VA. The 310th is the all-important backstage player making sure those out front have everything they need to succeed. The 310th has units in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. These include the 55th MMC, 4th Movements Region, 300th Area Support Group, 131st Chaplain Support Teams, and the 201st Public Affairs Detachment was one overriding theme.
The USAR converted the 310th Theater Army Area Command (TAACOM), at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to the theater support command (TSC) structure. The rationale for the TSC is the need to meet early deployment requirements, when strategic lift is most critical and the "fog of war" is greatest. The TSC concept stresses modularity, split-based operations, and unity of command. The TAACOM materiel management center (MMC) will be redesignated as the TSC MMC and will perform both the area support function of the TAACOM MMC and the sustainment support function of the theater army MMC. The TSC will provide the Army with a trained organization that is fully capable of handling the key early-deployment functions of reception, staging, onward movement, and integration (RSOI) and contracting.
Deploying in support of real-world missions is becoming more and more common for Army Reservists. In late 1996, the 310th TAACOM deployed about 115 Reservists from five of its subordinate units, including the 4th Movements Region, 201st PA Det., 55th Materiel Management Center, 300th Area Support Group and two detachments from the 310th's headquarters. The 201st Public Affairs Detachment, a 310th Theater Support Command (Provisional) unit, deployed to support the 1st Armored Division in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, during Operation Joint Endeavor. The unit returned home 13 February 1997 after an eight-month deployment.
The Army selected the 310th Theater Army Area Command as the Force XXI experimental unit for CSS above the corps. The Army Reserve has implemented a retail supply initiative that involves the peacetime employment of modification table of organization and equipment (MTOE)-authorized Standard Army Retail Supply System (SARSS) equipment and the use of MTOE direct-support and general-support supply and maintenance organizations and Army Reserve materiel management centers to perform daily operations. The concept regionalizes retail supply operations for the entire Army Reserve Command from three locations. The 377th Theater Army Area Command (TAACOM), New Orleans, Louisiana, processes all requisitions for Southwest Asia (Saudi Arabia and Kuwait). The Army Reserve was initially processing all National Training Center requisitions through its west coast supply hub operated by the 311th Corps Support Command, Los Angeles, California.
The 310th TAACOM, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, came on line in 1998 to support all Reserve elements on the east coast. By fiscal year 1999, the Army Reserve had the capability to provide retail supply support to both on- and off-post non-Army Reserve customers. This reengineering initiative resulted in significant savings to the total Army by leveraging both MTOE equipment and organizations to support peacetime logistics support requirements. This initiative also provided invaluable "train-as-you-fight" experience for combat support and combat service support elements of the Army Reserve.
