310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command
310th Theater Support Command
310th Theater Army Area Command
On 14 October 2000, the 9th Theater Army Area Command and the 310th Theater Support Command were consolidated and the consolidated unit was redesiganted as the 9th Theater Support Command, which concurrently merged with US Army Japan (USARJ), to form USARJ/9th Theater Support Command. The 310th Theater Support Command was inactivated.
During the 1990s, the US Army redesignated theater army area commands to theater support commands, with the redesignations being completed by 2000. The 310th Theater Army Area Command was subsequently redesignated as the 310th Theater Support Command.
As the 310th Theater Army Area Command, the senior combat service support element of the Army Reserve, was headquartered at the John S. Mosby Army Reserve Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The 310th Theater Army Area Command was the all-important backstage player making sure those out front had everything they needed to succeed. The 310th Theater Army Area Command had units in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. These included the 55th Materiel Management center, the 4th Movements Region, the 300th Area Support Group, the 131st Chaplain Support Team, and the 201st Public Affairs Detachment.
Deploying in support of real-world missions had already been becoming more and more common for Army Reservists by the 1990s. In late 1996, the 310th Theater Army Area Command deployed about 115 Reservists from 5 of its subordinate units, including the 4th Movements Region, 201st Public Affairs Detachment, 55th Materiel Management Center, 300th Area Support Group, and 2 detachments from the Command'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 on 13 February 1997 after an 8 month deployment.
The Army selected the 310th Theater Army Area Command as the Force XXI experimental unit for combat service support above the corps. The Army Reserve had implemented a retail supply initiative that involved 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 regionalized retail supply operations for the entire Army Reserve Command from 3 locations. The 377th Theater Army Area Command at 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 Theater Army Area Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia came on line in 1998 to support all Reserve elements on the east coast. By FY99, 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.
The Army also began redesignating Theater Army Area Commands as Theater Support Commands. The change in Army doctrine provided more focus in the battlefield to theater logistics with one logistics command responsible for all logistics. The Active Component/Reserve Component integration concept developed by USARJ/9th Theater Army Area Command and 310th Theater Army Area Command in 1996 called for alignment of the 310th Theater Army Area Command to the 9th Theater Army Area Command with the eventual reorganization as a single multi-component Theater Support Command, split-stationed at Camp Zama and Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The integration of the 2 units followed 3 distinct parallel axes: plans, force structure, and training.
The US Army Reserve converted the 310th Theater Army Area Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to the theater support command structure. The rationale for the theater support command was the need to meet early deployment requirements, when strategic lift was most critical, and the "fog of war" was greatest. The theater support command concept stressed modularity, split-based operations, and unity of command. The theater army area command materiel management center will be redesignated as the theater support command materiel management center, and would perform both the area support function of the theater army area command materiel management center and the sustainment support function of the theater army materiel management center. The theater support command would 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 operations and contracting.
The last Theater Army Area Command went away in October 2000 as US Army Japan reorganized and activated a multi-composition unit formed mostly of reservists. The 9th Theater Support Command, activated on 14 October 2000, consisted of about 40 active-duty soldiers at Camp Zama, Japan, and 400 Army Reserve troops at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 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 Theater Army Area Command. They formed the new 9th Theater Support Command with headquarters in Japan, but the bulk of its people remained in Virginia.
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