548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion
548th Corps Support Battalion
"Supporting the Sword"
The mission of the 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, "Supporting the Sword," is to, on order, deploy worldwide and provide multifunctional sustainment to forces throughout the depth of an assigned area of operations to enable supported commanders to fight and win.
Previously, the 548th Corps Support Battalion had provided timely maintenance, transportation, supply and field service (laundry and bath) support to Corps units stationed in or passing through the Battalion's area of responsibility. The 548th CSB provided command and control for 3 to 7 companies/detachments. The 548th was habitually aligned with the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), providing general support to the 10th Division Support Command (DISCOM).
The 548th was a Corps Support Battalion located locally at Fort Drum as part of the 10th Division Support Command in support of the 10th Mountain Division (LI). They provided the division with outload support whenever the brigades within the division deploy. The Battalion consisted of a Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 590th Field Service Company, 57th Transportation Company, 59th Chemical Company, and 514th Maintenance Company.
When the unit was redesignated as the 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, it retained all of its previously assigned units. The mission of the redesignated unit was to, on order, deploy worldwide and provide multifunctional Combat Support and Combat Service Support to forces throughout the depth of an assigned area of operations to enable supported commanders to fight and win.
The 548th Corps Support Battalion was originally constituted on 23 February 1943 in the Army of the United States as the 548th Quartermaster Service Battalion. It was activated on 25 May 1943 at Camp Ellis, Illinois.
The battalion was broken up on 20 September 1943 and its elements were reorganized and redesgnated as follows:
- Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment became Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment, 548th Quartermaster Battalion.
- Companies A, B, C, and D as the 3184th, 3186th and 3187th Quartermaster Service Companies, respectively thereafter had separate lineages.
Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 548th Quartermaster Battalion, inactivated on 28 September 1945 at Camp Anza, California. It was redesignated on 10 January 1967 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 548th Supply and Services Battalion, and allotted to the Regular Army. It was activated on 25 March 1967 at Fort McClellan, Alabama. The Battalion organization at the time consisted of the:
- HHC with a bakery and Decon Platoon
- 61st Chemical Company
- 112th Chemical Company
- 622nd Transportation Company
The unit later acquired the 365th Transportation Company, the 613th Field Service Company, and the 4th Surgical Hospital.
The unit was reorganized and redesignated on 16 November 1981 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 548th Supply and Services Battalion and moved to Fort Drum from Fort McClellan in 1987. At this time the organization of the unit included the 59th Chemical Company, 514th Maintenance Company, and the 57th Transportation Company.
The Battalion served in Southwest Asia for over 200 days during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991, and had gone further into Iraq than any other Corps Support Battalion. All Units were alerted for deployment August 1990. Battalion Soldiers deployed in September to Saudi Arabia. The 548th was the first Battalion in the 1st COSCOM to deploy and provided supply and maintenance Support to the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized).
On 2 February 1991 the Battalion moved into attack position near the City of Ash Shu'bah and established base. The Battalion began Task Force "Sword," an operation providing the 24th Infantry Division with fuel, ammo and maintenance support. The ground war started on 24 February 1991 with the remainder of the Battalion moving into Iraq 2 days later. The Battalion occupied an area near an airfield called Al Zuba, between Al Nasiriyah and Basrah. The war ended soon thereafter and the Battalion returned to Fort Drum on 15 April 1991.
In September 1992 various elements from the 548th deployed to Florida in the wake of Hurricane Andrew. The units in the Battalion supported both Task Force "All-American" and "Mountain" providing support ranging from setting up shower facilities, to hauling tons of supplies, and maintenance. The last elements of the Battalion redeployed to Fort Drum on 22 October 1992.
From 18 December 1992 until 10 May 1993, the Battalion deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia. It was reorganized and redesiganted on 16 November 1993 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 548th Corps Support Battalion. Its mission was to provide GS/DS support to over 26,000 US Forces. The Battalion was the first CSS unit in Mogadishu to move outside the Embassy, Port or Airfield.
All Organic units of the Battalion deployed to Haiti from 12 September 1994 until 15 January 1995. Over 511 Soldiers from the Battalion deployed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Battalion established Sword Base to provide supply and service, transportation, and maintenance to support the 10th Mountain Division, as well as various units in XVIII Airborne Corps. Each subordinate company played a key role while supporting JTF-190.
The 514th had numerous maintenance soldiers serving in Bosnia as part of the SFOR-6 mission during the mid-1990s. The Battalion stayed busy with numerous support missions to JRTC and NTC, as well as their scheduled battalion training exercises.
Since the attacks on 11 September 2001, the Army called on the units of the 548th. The units in the 548th deployed around the globe in support of the War on Terror, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait. The 548th's HHC deployed in support of OIF I in the winter of 2003 and re-deployed in September 2005 in of support of OIF IV. The 57th Trans deployed in support of OIF I & III and were orderd to re-deploy to Iraq the Summer of 2007. The 59th Chemical Company deployed in Support of both Operation Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, with a deployment in 2003 was in support of 3rd Infantry Division's "Thunder Run" to Baghdad. The 514th Maintenance supported OIF I and was also deployed to OIF V. The 590th FSC deployed to Iraq during OIF II & IV.
In 2005 elements of the 10th Mountain Division began transforming to the US Army's new modular force structure. A part of this reorgnaization saw the deactivation of Division Support Commands, and their replacement by Special Troop Battalions at Division and Brigade level and a Division level Sustainment Brigade. Formerly habitually attached Corps Support Battalions became organic to the new modular Divisions. As a result the 548th Corps Support Battalion was redesignated the 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.
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