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First US Army

History: First US Army and Training Support XXI

In 1990, First US Army trained, mobilized, and deployed more than 41,000 Army Reserve Component Soldiers to Kuwait for the first Gulf War. In 1991, Fourth US Army was inactivated and its 7 mid-western states rejoined First US Army. First Army left Fort Meade, Maryland in 1995 and was reorganized at Fort Gillem, Georgia upon the inactivation of Second US Army. First US Army's area increased to include the eastern half of the United States and 2 territories.

The difficulties experienced in mobilizing Reserve Component elements for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990-1991 highlighted the need for a change in the structure of training support in the US Army. After a number of initiatives, US Forces Command settled on a Active Component-Reserve Component structure called Training Support XXI, which further streamlined the training support by putting the training mission under one headquarters, the continental US field army. The goal of the organization was to enable reserve units to establish habitual relationships with the training support unit in their region and through “one stop shopping” request and schedule training and training support.

In October 1997, a new interim training structure was accepted and implemented as an initial step to reaching the approved Training Support XXI structure. Referred to as the Hybrid Alternative, it began the integration of all training support under one headquarters. The hybrid organization placed combat arms training support under the continental US armies, such as First US Army. The reorganization eliminated readiness groups and regional training brigades and replaced them with a new organization called a training support brigade.

Combat support and combat service support training organizations, the exercise division and field exercise brigades, were still organized under the US Army Reserve Command. Those 2 organizations coordinated training on a regional basis. The combat support and combat service support training battalions moved to the training support brigade as the field exercise brigades were inactivated.

Units 78th Division 85th Division 87th Division 3rd Support Brigade 4th Cavalry Brigade 12th Support Brigade 15th Support Brigade 157th Infantry Brigade 158th Infantry Brigade 174th Infantry Brigade 177th Armored Brigade 188th Infantry Brigade 189th Infantry Brigade 205th Infantry Brigade

Facilities 1st Army Training Sites Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, AL Bethany Beach Training Site, DE Camp Atterbury, IN Camp Blanding, FL Camp Dawson, WV Camp Edwards Army Trn. Site, MA Camp Grayling, MI Camp Mccain, MS Camp Perry Army Training Site, OH Camp Ripley, MN Camp Rowland, CT Camp Santiago, PR Camp Shelby, MS Camp Weicker, Niantic, CT Deep Woods, MN Defense Distribution Region East, PA Eglin Airforce Base, FL Ethan Allen Firing Rang, VT Fort A.P. Hill, VA Fort Belvoir, VA Fort Benjamin Harrison, IN Fort Benning, GA Fort Bragg, NC Fort Campbell, KY Fort Devens, MA Fort Dix, NJ Fort Drum, NY Fort Eustis, VA Fort George G. Meade, MD Fort Gordon, GA Fort Indiantown Gap, PA Fort Jackson, SC Fort Knox, KY Fort Lee, VA Fort Mcclellan, AL Fort Mccoy, WI Fort Monmouth, NJ Fort Pickett, Blackstone, VA Fort Rucker, AL Fort Stewart, GA Letterkenny Army Depot, PA Milan Training Center, TN New Jersey Mil Academy, Sea Girt, NJ Seneca Army Depot, Romulus, NY State Military Resv, Virgina Beach, VA Tobyhanna Army Depot, PA United States Military Academy West Kentucky Training Site

US Army Forces Command fully implemented Training Support XXI on 1 October 1999. The last of the field exercise brigades, subordinate to the exercise divisions in the US Army Reserve Command were inactivated and their subordinate battalions reorganized under the training support brigades. The training support brigade was the key organization in the Training Support XXI structure. It supported the combat arms, as well as combat support and combat service support units. These responsibilities were formerly divided between continental US armies and the US Army Reserve Command.

The 2 remaining continental US armies, First and Fifth US Armies, subsequently had responsibility for all the training support for reserve component units in the continental United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Under their operational control were the training support divisions. The training support divisions were formed from the former exercise divisions and their brigades formed from reflagging the training field exericse brigades and separate training support brigades.