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US Army Pacific (USARPAC)

The mission of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), as the Army Service Component Command to US Pacific Command (PACOM), is to provide forces, command assigned forces, and enable full spectrum operations to deter aggression, advance regional security/cooperation, respond to crisis, and fight to win. On order, USARPAC provides command and control for small scale contingency operations or serves as Combined or Joint Headquarters to support Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief and peacekeeping operations.

USARPAC is the Army Component Command to the Commander in Chief US Pacific Command (USCINCPAC), less the geographic area of Korea. USARPAC commands active US Army and US Army Reserve forces in Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, and in possessions and trust territories administered by the United States in US Pacific command.

USARPAC trains Army Forces for support of military operations and peacetime engagements in order to contribute to decisive victory and promote regional stability. USARPAC solicits, awards, and administers contracts in support of mission-related requirements, including administrative supplies and services, waste disposal, food services, minor construction, facilities, maintenance and repair, grounds maintenance, ADP equipment and services, and laundry services.

USARPAC traces its history back to 1898, when the United States first became a Pacific power and American soldiers first arrived in Hawaii. Hawaii soon became a power-projection platform for military operations in the Asia-Pacific region. Fort Shafter was built between 1905 and 1907 and in 1921 became the headquarters for the Hawaiian Department.

When Army and Navy forces in Hawaii and the Philippines came under attack on 7 December 1941, Hawaii quickly became a strategic hub. The Hawaiian Department became the Army component command under the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas. As the campaigns progressed, the command was designated US Army Forces, Central Pacific Area (from 1943 to 1944); US Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (from 1944 to 1945); and US Army Forces, Middle Pacific (from 1945 to 1947). Its insignia, designed in 1944, depicted the axis of advance across the Central Pacific.

Following World War II, numerous Army headquarters in the central Pacific were consolidated with the goal of forming a single Army command based in Hawaii. In 1947 the command was redesignated US Army, Pacific. During the Korean War USARPAC provided combat forces, training, and logistical support. In 1957 the Joint Chiefs of Staff eliminated the Far East Command in favor of a single US Pacific Command, and USARPAC took control of all Army forces in the region. As Army component of the unified command led by the US Commander in Chief Pacific, USARPAC was assigned a threefold mission: Provide necessary ground Army combat forces; support those forces administratively and logistically; and provide reserves and contingency plans to meet any ground threat to United States interests in the Pacific.

During the Vietnam War, USARPAC provided combat forces, training, and logistical support for US Army, Vietnam. After the war, the Army reduced its presence in the region and reorganized. In 1974 USARPAC was eliminated as a component command and Army forces in Korea and Japan became separate major commands. In Hawaii, USARPAC headquarters was superceded by US Army Support Command Hawaii (USASCH) and a Department of the Army field operating agency, US Army CINCPAC Support Group.

On 23 March 1979, the Department of the Army announced the establishment of the US Army Western Command (WESTCOM) as a major command and the Army component of US Pacific Command. WESTCOM took command of Army forces in Hawaii. In 1989, US Army forces in the Pacific were further consolidated, with the addition of US Army Alaska to the Command. In 1990, US Army Japan was assigned to the Command. Headquarters at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, the Command was redesignated US Army Pacific on 30 August 1990.

In the years after the end of the Vietnam War, Army forces in the Pacific participated in major peacekeeping operations in the Sinai Desert in the Middle East, and provided humanitarian and disaster relief missions in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Guam, and the island of Kauai. Although fully trained for warfare, USARPAC soldiers were also skilled in conducting operations other than war. Whether it was assuring order among refugees at Guantanamo, providing flood relief in the deltas of South Asia, or maintaining a cease fire in the Middle East, USARPAC personnel operated far and wide in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. In late 1994, fully one half of the 25th Infantry Division deployed to Haiti as the United States and other governments worked to restore democracy there. Two years later, USARPAC peacekeepers went to Bosnia-Herzegovina to help restore hope.

USARPAC also performed many training, readiness, and civil support functions. The 196th Infantry Brigade provided training support to National Guard and Army Reserve forces in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa, as well as humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and military support to civil authorities. The 9th Regional Support Command (later the 9th Regional Readiness Command and then the 9th Mission Support Command) commanded Army Reserve forces through the region.

In October 2000, USARPAC became a Multi-Component Unit (MCU) and Army Service Component Command (ASCC) as part of the US Army transformation to meet the emerging security needs of the United States in which USARPAC was a key strategic player. The whole idea of the multi-component unit was to give active army units additional resources to accomplish the mission. The multi-component integration was important in the overall picture of the Army's success going into the 21st century. With the Reserve and National Guard assuming a more active role in total Army operations and the "One Team, One Fight, One Future" concept, multi-component integration provided for a better understanding of each component's role in achieving victory.

Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, USARPAC soldiers played a vital role in homeland defense for Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, and Japan, as well as in support of operations with our allies elsewhere in the region. The USCINCPAC identified USARPAC as the executive agent for joint rear area coordination (JRAC). USARPAC subsequently created the Office of the Joint Rear Area Coordinator - Hawaii (JRAC-HI) to help perform this role.

Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said 01 December 2021 "... the Army will have at least five core tasks if a conflict breaks out, and these are tasks the Army can usefully perform without presuming substantial expansion of Army permanent presence in the region in the near term future," Wormuth said.

1. First, she said, the Army will serve as the 'linchpin" service within the joint fight. "The Army will establish, build up, secure and protect staging areas and joint operating bases for air and naval forces in theater," Wormuth said. "We will be prepared to provide integrated air and missile defense, both for fixed sites and using mobile elements. We will provide area security and quick reaction forces where needed."
2. The Army will also use its vast logistics capacity to sustain joint force partners across the Indo-Pacific region, she said. "The Army, for example, will provide much of the secure communication network background. We will generate intra-theater distribution networks to keep the joint force supplied from dispersed locations, and we will maintain munition stockpiles and forward arming and refueling points," she said.
3. The Army can also provide command and control capability at multiple levels to ensure coordination and synchronization across the joint force. "The Army, with its substantial planning and operations capacity at the division and corps level, is uniquely well placed to provide command and control for the joint force," Wormuth said.
4. Beyond just mission support, Wormuth also said the Army brings substantial combat capability to the joint force. For instance, she said the Army will provide ground-based, long-range fires to enhance the joint force’s strike capability. "Using our long-range hypersonic weapons, mid-range capability and precision strike missiles — all of which we will begin fielding in fiscal year 2023 — we will be able to interdict fires across sea lines of communication, suppress enemy air defenses and provide counter fires against mobile targets."
5. Finally, she said, the Army can provide counter-attack capability using its maneuver forces. Infantry stryker elements or combat aviation brigades, for instance, can be used to restore territorial integrity of allies and partners.

While Wormuth said the Army is currently capable of providing such capabilities to the joint force without changes in its existing permanent presence in Indo-Pacom, some changes would be useful. Right now, the U.S. military footprint in Asia is oriented towards the northeast, in places like Japan and Korea, for instance. "I think there is very much a desire to be able to expand our access and basing arrangements more into Southeast Asia; because, if we were able to do that, we would have ... a more dispersed posture that would give us much more flexibility," she said. "I think it is very much in our interest, and in the interest of our allies and partners, to explore how we can shift that posture over time."