Special Operations Support Command (SOSCOM)
Assured Support
Special Operations Support Command (SOSCOM) provides combat service support, combat health support, and signal support to Army special operations forces. To support this complex and demanding mission, the command's subordinate units (the 528th Support Battalion and the 112th Special Operations Signal Battalion) provide the necessary connectivity to sustain and support ARSOF around the world.
Although the U.S. Army Spec. Opns. Support Command has taken care of the support needs of the special operations community since 1986, its lineages are far older. The 112th Sig. Bn. evolved from the 512th Abn. Sig. Company, which supported special operations in World War II. The 528th SOSB's history dates to the 528th Quartermaster Service Bn., which served in Sicily, Italy, Southern France and Germany
Army Special Operations Forces responded to continuing force reductions with a streamlined logistics structure with existing Department of Defense drawdown and realignment procedures. It pooled logistical and theater Army SOSCOM assets to create a centralized, U.S.-based SOSCOM, with soldiers deployed worldwide. This centralization brought the Special Operations community within doctrinal force projection and support concepts.
The Special Operations Support Command (Airborne), activated on Nov. 1, 1995, is the newest major subordinate unit in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Its activation realigned the command and control organizational structure of the following units: 112th Special Operations Signal Battalion (Airborne); 528th Special Operations Support Battalion (Airborne); Material Management Center (Airborne) and five Special Operations Theater Support Elements. It also concentrates a dedicated, regionally oriented, combat and health services, communications planning, coordination and liaison base to assure support for all Army Special Operations Forces units.
Material Management Center provides the ARSOF with centralized and integrated materiel management of property, equipment maintenance, logistical automation and repair parts and supplies.
Specializing in advanced communications and resupply capabilities, members of the 112th SOSB (A) and the 528th SOSB (A), have a difficult mission supporting ARSOF. In their respective fields, signal and support soldiers provide supplies, maintenance, equipment and expertise allowing Special Operation Forces to "shoot, move and communicate" on a continuous basis. Because ARSOF often uses SOF-unique items, soldiers assigned to these units are taught to operate and maintain a vast array of specialized equipment not normally used by their conventional counterparts. To meet the needs of ARSOF, the two battalions have developed logistical and signal packages that are deployable on a moments notice. Soldiers assigned to these units are airborne qualified.
SOSCOM inherited its support legacy and customer orientation from the reorganization of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Special Operations Support Command (Airborne), Theater Army, which it replaced. This reorganization left a SOTSE in each of five geographical regions around the world. The SOTSE soldiers are embedded in theaters' Army staff. They plan and coordinate with theater Army, SOSCOM and ARSOF to ensure support during operations and training. As a theater Army staff member, these officers and non-commissioned officers' knowledge of theater-specific requirements and capabilities assist units in coordination with the theater.
SOSCOM provides combat service support and combat health support to Army special operations forces in the full spectrum of conflict. It also provides operational and tactical communications for joint special operations task force commanders in support of wartime missions.
The SOSCOM team designs modular support packages to make its support more efficient and easier on customers. Information on the number of soldiers involved in a deployment, its location and duration, and other criteria is used to decide what type and how much support is needed.
In an initial deployment package, or IDP, deploying units can have a "company minus" to provide support. This includes a command-and-control element and teams to provide maintenance, repair parts, fuel, water, communications, medical, ammunition, food service and transportation. The IDP can be ready to go in 18 hours.
Once the operation is under way, a follow-on-force package -- which includes the remainder of the forward support company, the "storefront" initiative and additional elements from the headquarters and main support company -- joins the support teams if needed. The storefront initiative provides avenues to repair equipment that cannot be repaired in theater.
SOSCOM also provides Special Operations Theater Support Elements, which are company-sized elements based in different theaters to support special operations in Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Germany. Another SOTSE activated to support operations in Qatar late in 2000.
