Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC)
Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC)
History
The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) traces its organizational lineage to the Army's former Office of the Chief of Transportation, which was established on 31 July 1942. The subsequent entities supported every war, major contingency, humanitarian relief operation, and theater of operations where soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have been deployed. Fourteen years later, the Defense Department established a separate agency to carry out traffic management functions. On 1 May 1956, the original mandate began when the Secretary of Defense designated the Secretary of the Army as the single manager for military traffic within the United States. Subsequently, on 1 July 1956, the Army established the Military Traffic Management Agency (MTMA) to carry out those single-manager functions. Originally, MTMA did not operate military ocean terminals, a function held by the US Army Transportation Terminal Command (a Transportation Corps component). MTMA included 5 regional offices, referred to as "traffic regions": Eastern (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); Western (Oakland, California); Central (St. Louis, Missouri); Southwestern (Dallas, Texas); and Southeastern (Atlanta, Georgia).
MTMA lasted 5 and one half years. Then, as part of his overall DOD restructuring, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara transferred the organization to the newly established Defense Supply Agency (DSA). On 1 January 1962, MTMA was also redesignated as the Defense Traffic Management Service (DTMS). At that time Army Materiel Command had taken over operation of military ocean terminals. However, DOD and congressional concerns over duplication in military logistics soon led to further reorganizations. After a detailed reexamination of the Defense Transportation System, Secretary McNamara designated the Secretary of the Army as the single manager for military traffic, land transportation, and common-user ocean terminals on 19 November 1964. To execute this centralized management concept, a joint service planning staff formed up to establish an agency, subsequently called the Military Traffic Management and Terminal Service (MTMTS).
DOD then formally activated MTMTS as a jointly staffed Army major command on 15 February 1965. MTMTS assumed all responsibilities assigned to the Defense Traffic Management Service and the terminal operations functions of the US Army Supply and Maintenance Command (a component of the Army Materiel Command). With the approval and publication of its single-manager charter on 24 June 1965, MTMTS joined the Military Air Transport Service (which subsequently became Air Mobility Command) and the Military Sea Transport Service (which subsequently became Military Sealift Command) in providing complete transportation services to the Department of Defense.
The formation of the MTMTS resulted in tremendous change in the command's organization. With MTMTS operating military ocean terminals, it focused its area command structure on ports. Upon the command's formation, the former eastern traffic region headquarters moved to Brooklyn, New York, and became Eastern Area. Western Area headquarters (formerly a traffic region) remained at Oakland, California and MTMTS abolished the southwestern and southeastern field offices. For 2 years, however, MTMTS retained its Central Area command in St. Louis, Missouri.
In 1966, the Transportation Engineering Agency at Fort Eustis, Virgnia, the Army's only activity with traffic and transportability engineering expertise, became a major component of MTMTS. To streamline operations further, MTMTS disestablished that headquarters in early 1967 and transferred its functions to Eastern Area.
MTMTS provided support for the Vietnam War through cargo operations at its military ocean terminals at Oakland, California (MOTBA); Bayonne, New Jersey (MOTBY); and Sunny Point, North Carolina (MOTSU), as well as commercial ports. In the earlier years of the war, MTMTS shipped Soldiers by surface from its Western Area (primarily Oakland). By 1967, as troops rotated to Vietnam in small groups or individually, fewer Soldiers went by surface; most were airlifted to the theater. As a means of easing serious congestion and ship delay, in 1966 MTMTS had also initiated a practice of sending full shiploads to single ports of debarkation in theater whenever possible. It continued this practice throughout the war. Between 1965 and 1969, MTMTS, in conjunction with the Military Sealift Command, transported more than 22 million short tons of dry cargo and more than 14 million short tons of bulk petroleum to Vietnam.
On 31 July 1974, MTMTS was again redesignated as the Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC), to make its title more readily identifiable with its mission. The Command closed the Eastern Area Headquarters in Brooklyn, New York in September 1975, and moved it to Bayonne, New Jersey, collocated with its military ocean terminal there.
In late 1984, MTMC created the Transportation Terminal Command, Far East, as a subordinate command of MTMC Western Area. On 1 October 1988, MTMC, along with Military Sealift Command and Military Airlift Command, became components of the United States Transportation Command (TRANSCOM). Created on 18 April 1987, TRANSCOM began official operations on 1 October 1987, as DOD's single unified transportation command. Its mission was to integrate global air, land and sea transportation in support of national security objectives. It was the focal point for the integration of wartime mobility procedures.
The millions of tons of cargo and thousands of troops moved to support Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990-1991 marked the largest test of the military's logistical capability since the invasion of Normandy, France during World War II. During the first Gulf War, MTMC personnel successfully managed the movement of 85 percent of the unit equipment shipped to Saudi Arabia. They operated out of 33 ports world wide and loaded more than 945,000 pieces of equipment equaling 6.5 million measurement-tons onto 564 ships bound for Saudi Arabia. At the peak of operations, MTMC activated 12 transportation units, 225 volunteers, and 73 Individual Mobilization Augmentees from the Reserve components to support Desert Shield missions. Under the Special Middle East Shipping Agreements, MTMC booked 37,000 40-foot commercial containers with sustainment supplies aboard commercial liners bound for Southwest Asia. On 14 February 1992, the Department of Defense also gave TRANSCOM control of service-operated transportation in both peace and war. Its subordinate service elements continued to be major commands of their parent services and continued to perform service-unique missions under the direction of their military departments.
The first Gulf War caused some aftershocks for MTMC. In 1991, MTMC redesignated its Transportation Terminal Command, Far East as MTMC, Pacific and moved it from Korea to Hawaii. Headquarters then assigned MTMC, Europe as a subordinate command of MTMC, Eastern Area in July 1992. This arrangement meshed with MTMC Headquarter's relationships with Western Area and MTMC, Pacific. MTMC's February 1993 reorganization created an organization that provided improved quality service and optimum strategic deployability of America's forces in support of national defense. The directorates of international traffic, inland traffic, passenger traffic, personal property and safety and security were centralized into a single Operations Directorate. The reorganization also combined personnel and logistics into a single directorate.
In addition to the events in Southwest Asia between 1990 and 1991, the period also marked the final collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold war. In general, the Cold War's end meant continuous change for MTMC. Even before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Congress had established the Base Realignment and Closing Commission (BRAC). Throughout the 1990s, this group shuttered growing numbers of well-established, but less-used bases around the country. MTMC survived the first few BRAC cycles, which occurred in 1988, 1991, 1993, but not the 1995 round of proposals. At that time the Defense Department recommended closing the Oakland and Bayonne military ocean terminals. BRAC accepted its recommendations, which meant abolishing MTMC's Eastern and Western Area Commands. According to plan, MTMC would close down those ocean terminals by 2001. In 1996, the Joint Traffic Management Office was also formed in 1996 from elements of MTMC and Military Sealift Command. The office's big missions included ocean shipping, non-scheduled liner cargo and intermodal equipment.
To replace its 2 area headquarters, Headquarters, MTMC planned to establish a single continental United States (CONUS) command. Headquarters, MTMC formed a selection team, which evaluated a large variety of sites. In early 1997, Secretary of the Army Togo D. West reviewed the site team recommendations and decided on Fort Eustis, Virginia as the single area command's headquarters. Loss of the area commands meant gain in other areas. As a result of recommendations by its Organizational Excellence team, Headquarters, MTMC made MTMC, Europe (since 1992 a component of Eastern Area) and MTMC, Pacific (a component of Western Area) separate commands in late 1996.
In an effort to make its organizations more recognizable as regular Army units, MTMC redesignated its port units on 1 October 1997. The previous 4-digit designations changed to 3 digits and the major and medium port commands changed to groups, battalions, and companies. For example, MTMC, Europe became the 598th Transportation Group (Terminal) and MTMC, Pacific became the 599th Transportation Group (Terminal). On 2 October 1998, MTMC established the Deployment Support Command (DSC) at Fort Eustis. The command was responsible for the command and control of 8 water ports in the United States and Puerto Rico. The command was formed from MTMC Western Area and MTMC Eastern Area following the closure of Oakland Army Base in Oakland, California, and Military Ocean Terminal Bayonne in Bayonne, New Jersey on 30 September 1999. Both installations were closed as a result of the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission decisions. Functions such as command and control and some transportation functions from the 2 ocean ports were then re-established at Fort Eustis. The 450-member organization included approximately 200 former employees of the 2 ports, 160 from Bayonne and 40 from Oakland.
On 23 July 2001 it was announced that the Army had approved a sweeping reorganization of the Military Traffic Management Command that would make fundamental changes in the organization's structure, staffing and operations. All the changes were to be in effect by 30 June 2003. The reorganization was approved on 28 June 2001 by Army Vice Chief of Staff, General John M. Keane. In its impact and range, the announced changes were the largest in the history of the 36-year-old command. MTMC's responsibility included the movement of Department of Defense freight worldwide and the movement of service members' personal property and privately owned vehicles.
A single headquarters would have control over the command's 24 water ports, approximately 2,000 employees. As approved, the newly designed organization would reduce redundancy and layering in the headquarters and supporting offices. The reorganization would trim approximately 250 personnel spaces, or 9 percent, of MTMC's current 2,346 worldwide force. The concept was to combine the Headquarters, MTMC, and Headquarters, MTMC Deployment Support Command, into a single headquarters managing all MTMC assets worldwide. The result would be a single Headquarters, MTMC with locations at both Alexandria, Virgnia and Fort Eustis, Virginia. The operations staff, which was split between 2 locations, would be predominantly located at Fort. Eustis, making it the operational hub for the command. In its simplest terms, MTMC had a redundancy of 2 operating headquarters located only a few hours apart. The elimination of the duplication would provide both labor and operational efficiencies. The number of people in MTMC operations jobs would drop from approximately 425 to 257, a cut of 168 personnel spaces. The reorganization was a fundamental change in how MTMC would do business in workload. The move would eliminate redundant staff functions, improve global operations, and result in a reduction in the total workforce. The reorganization would enable MTMC to provide seamless end-to-end support to the warfighting Commanders'-in-Chief. The new organization would provide a single global, surface movement, process manager, as the director of operations for MTMC.
To effect the reorganization, a series of gradual changes were to be implemented to accomplish the following:
- The existing Commander, Deployment Support Command would be designated as both Deputy Commanding General, MTMC and Director of Operations;
- A single MTMC Operations Center would be created at Fort Eustis, Virginia;
- The MTMC's Deployment Support Command at Fort Eustis, Virginia would be inactivated;
- The Operations Division, at MTMC Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, would be eliminated; and
- The Joint Traffic Management Office, at MTMC Headquarters, also Alexandria, Virginia, would also be eliminated.
Additionally, MTMC would reestablish the 597th Transportation Group at Sunny Point, North Carolina, as the single operational group headquarters for former units of the Deployment Support Command. The 597th Transportation Group and MTMC's 2 overseas groups would then report to the MTMC Deputy Commanding General/Director of Operations. Some MTMC Command and Control arrangements would be altered. In the new organization, the Commander of MTMC's new Operations Center would be in an expanded position: MTMC's Deputy Commanding General and Director of Operations.
MTMC immediately began reshaping to more closely resemble private enterprise transportation organizations. The future organization was expected to be smaller, faster and more efficient in its work. Automation and organizational structuring would create savings that would reduce freight rates for MTMC's DOD customers. The reshaping included centralized work processes at headquarters and standardized staffs at the command's 24 worldwide port units. Some work processes would shift to the Deployment Support Command, MTMC's operations element.
Changes also took place at MTMC's 2 major overseas commands, the 598th and the 599th Transportation Groups. After years of unsynchronized, incremental changes, the 2 organizations were distinctly different in staffing and organization, but in the future they would resemble each other. A team of 4 MTMC battalion commanders reviewed the staffing of MTMC's battalions. The strength disparity among the units ranged from 18 in Bahrain to 100 in Korea. The goal was to develop a common structure for battalions, adapted to meet the needs of each battalion's area of responsibility and mission.
The military transportation units of the MTMC subsequently became more uniform in size and composition. Implementation of the proposal was complete by 30 September 2001. The changes in existing MTMC units were sweeping in scope. The ideas for the changes came from MTMC's commanders themselves. At the same time, the changes reflect reduction in layering and the great use of computer automation. The proposal called for changes in the size and structure of most of the Military Traffic Management Command's 25 transportation unit locations in the United States and around the world. MTMC battalions were reorganized into standard 26-member organizations. The battalion's subordinate company and detachment units were also affected. The MTMC Battalion Evaluation Group selected 26 as an optimum number for a water port concentrating on the core missions of terminal operations and traffic management. As a consequence of this change, most MTMC water port locations decreased in size, though a few increased in size. Overall, MTMC strength at worldwide port locations was expected to decline by 4 officers, 37 soldiers, 94 civilians and 64 foreign nationals as a result of the restructuring. MTMC's major command groups, the 598th and 599th Transportation Groups were reorganized to near-similar structures and job titles. The 598th Transportation Group lost 29 positions while the 599th Transportation Group lost 3 positions.
| Major functions transferred to SDDC (and previous entities) by year | |
|---|---|
| Year | Function |
| 1 Jul 1966 | Transportation engineering functions |
| 1 Jul 1976 | Operation of water terminals in Northern and Central Europe |
| 1 Oct 1977 | Operation of ocean terminal and common-user land transportation in Okinawa |
| 1 Feb 1978 | Operation of Army common-user ocean terminal operations in Japan |
| 1 Oct 1978 | Operation of Army terminals in Korea |
| 1 Oct 1981 | Responsibility for sealift cargo, passenger booking and associated contract administration functions |
| 1985 | Management of car rentals for the entire federal government |
| 1996 | Liner service and container management |
MTMC served as the Department of Defense's single port manager worldwide. Terminal responsibilities included pre-deployment planning, contracting, customs clearance, documentation, cargo stow planning, and vessel loading/discharging. MTMC's Reserve Component units and Individual Mobilization Augmentees were vital to MTMC's successful port operations. The deployment, sustainment, and redeployment of US armed forces were possible because of the support of port operators, transporters, and logisticians worldwide.
MTMC managed and influenced numerous freight and cargo mobility requirements that support Defense Transportation System (DTS) initiatives. The Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations managed surface intermodal transportation of freight and the provision of intermodal equipment and services to all users of the DTS. Through contracts and other arrangements, the MTMC Operations staff provided the means by which military installation transportation offices, military units, service headquarters, the Defense Logistics Agency, and other DOD-approved activities and contractors move freight in support of the Department of Defense's global commitments. Such freight included tanks, fuel, ammunition, vehicles, repair parts, food, and other commodities.
In 2001 and throughout 2002, MTMC also mobilized Reserve transportation units and organized deployment support teams as part of its support for the Global War on Terrorism. Additionally, from October 2002 through May 2003, the command supported Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, moving more than 15,000,000 square feet of cargo, operating from 16 seaports and power projection platforms worldwide.
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