This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(April 2023) |
United States Army Forces Command | |
---|---|
Active | 1973–present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Army Command |
Role | Provide combat-ready army forces to Geographic Combatant Commands [1] |
Garrison/HQ | Fort Liberty |
Motto(s) | Freedom's Guardian |
Website | Army Forces Command |
Commanders | |
Commanding General | GEN Andrew P. Poppas |
Deputy Commanding General | LTG Stephen G. Smith |
Command Sergeant Major | CSM Todd Sims |
Notable commanders | Complete list of commanders [2] |
Insignia | |
Distinctive unit insignia |
The United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) is the largest United States Army command. It provides expeditionary, regionally engaged, campaign-capable land forces to combatant commanders. Headquartered at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, FORSCOM consists of more than 750,000 active Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard soldiers. FORSCOM was created on 1 July 1973 from the former Continental Army Command (CONARC), who in turn supplanted Army Field Forces and Army Ground Forces.
The mission is: "Forces Command trains and prepares a combat ready, globally responsive Total Force in order to build and sustain readiness to meet Combatant Command requirements."
The vision is to: "[produce] combat ready and globally responsive Total Army Forces that are well led, disciplined, trained, and expeditionary…ready now to deploy and win in Large Scale Combat Operations against near-peer threats."
The Command is focused on the transformation of the Army into a more deployable and maneuverable force. This shift to a modular force design increases the number of units available to support regional combatant commanders.
The capabilities of the new brigade-level formations – armor, infantry, airborne, air assault and Stryker – ensure greater flexibility and enhance FORSCOM's ability to deploy trained and ready forces quickly.
FORSCOM has major units located at 15 installations, including the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California and the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana.
Following the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, the Command moved from Fort McPherson, Georgia to a new headquarters facility at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, in June 2011. The Command hosted a "Casing of the Colors" ceremony on 24 June 2011 at Fort McPherson, and an "Uncasing of Colors" on 1 Aug. 2011 at Fort Bragg.
During the Cold War, Forces Command supervised a number of armies each responsible for areas of the continental United States: First Army, Fourth Army, Fifth Army, and Sixth Army, at various times. Their responsibilities varied over time, but from the 1980s to the mid-1990s covered Reserve Component training supervision. FORSCOM currently commands U.S. Army Reserve Command, and First Army.
FORSCOM also commands three Army corps: III Armored Corps at Fort Cavazos, Texas; V Corps at Fort Knox, Kentucky; and XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. Together the three corps include nine divisions, one cavalry regiment, 37 support brigades of various types, and a range of other corps combat, combat support and combat service support units.
First U.S. Army is responsible for training, mobilization and deployment support to Reserve Component and National Guard units in FORSCOM. They also execute FORSCOM missions within their geographic areas of responsibility. First U.S. Army at Rock Island Army Arsenal, Ill., reports to FORSCOM. It is responsible for the training, mobilization and deployment support for reserve component units in FORSCOM. It executes missions within the continental United States and Puerto Rico.
A major subordinate command is the United States Army Reserve Command (USARC), also headquartered in the same building as FORSCOM at Fort Liberty, N.C. [3] It commands all United States Army Reserve units in the continental United States, except those assigned to Special Operations Command. The Army Reserve strength stands at about 179,000 soldiers.
The Army National Guard provides Forces Command a balanced force of eight National Guard combat divisions, 15 brigades, and extensive combat support and combat service support units.
The current FORSCOM Army National Guard strength is approximately 351,000 soldiers. Mobilizing the Army National Guard into active federal service would bring the total strength of FORSCOM to nearly two-thirds of the Army's combat ground forces.
The current Commanding General is GEN Andrew P. Poppas, who assumed the role in July 2022. The Deputy Commanding General is LTG Paul T. Calvert (since december 2021) and the Command Sergeant Major CSM Todd Sims.
U.S. Armed Forces operations commands
The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into hostile areas with a U.S. Department of Defense mandate to be "on-call to fight any time, anywhere" at "the knife's edge of technology and readiness." Primarily based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, the 82nd Airborne Division is part of the XVIII Airborne Corps. The 82nd Airborne Division is the U.S. Army's most strategically mobile division.
A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps.
The 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) is a combined arms division of the United States Army based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. It is a subordinate unit of the XVIII Airborne Corps under U.S. Army Forces Command. Its current organization includes a division headquarters and headquarters battalion, two armored brigade combat teams, one aviation brigade, a division artillery, a sustainment brigade and a combat sustainment support battalion along with a maneuver enhancement brigade. The division has a distinguished history, having seen active service in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Global War on Terror. The Medal of Honor has been awarded to 61 members of the 3rd Infantry Division, making the division the most honored in the Army.
The 36th Infantry Division ("Arrowhead") also known as the "Panther Division", the "Lone Star Division", "The Texas Army", and the "T-patchers", is an infantry division of the U.S. Army and part of the Texas Army National Guard. The 36th Infantry Division was organized during World War I (1914–1918) from units of the Texas National Guard and of the Oklahoma National Guard. As an all-Texas unit, the Arrowhead Division was called to service for World War II (1937–1945) on 25 November 1940, was deployed to the European Theater of Operations in April 1943, and returned to the Texas Army National Guard in December 1945.
The XVIII Airborne Corps is a corps of the United States Army that has been in existence since 1942 and saw extensive service during World War II. The corps is designed for rapid deployment anywhere in the world and is referred to as "America's Contingency Corps." Its headquarters are at Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States Army. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations: the ARNG of each state, most territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the federal ARNG, as part of the National Guard as a whole. It is divided into subordinate units stationed in each state or insular area, responsible to their respective governors or other head-of-government.
The 4th Infantry Division is a division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado. It is composed of a division headquarters battalion, three brigade combat teams, a combat aviation brigade, a division sustainment brigade, and a division artillery.
The 1st Cavalry Division is a combined arms division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army. It is based at Fort Cavazos, Texas. It was formed in 1921 and served during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, with the Stabilization Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the Iraq War, in the War in Afghanistan as well as Operation Freedom's Sentinel and Operation Inherent Resolve. As of July 2023, the 1st Cavalry Division is subordinate to III Armored Corps and is commanded by Major General Kevin D. Admiral.
The VII Army Corps of the United States Army was one of the two principal corps of the United States Army Europe during the Cold War. Activated in 1918 for World War I, it was reactivated for World War II and again during the Cold War. During both World War II and the Cold War it was subordinate to the Seventh Army, or USAREUR and was headquartered at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, West Germany, from 1951 until it was redeployed to the US after significant success in the Gulf War in 1991, then inactivated in 1992.
III Corps is a corps of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Cavazos, Texas. It is a major formation of the United States Army Forces Command.
Multi-National Corps – Iraq (MNC-I) was a formerly multinational, later U.S. only, army corps created on 15 May 2004, fighting the Iraq War. Its superior body, the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) had replaced Combined Joint Task Force 7 on May 15, 2004. The change was made due to "concerns that had existed for some period of time, that the Combined Joint Task Force 7 headquarters was not sufficient to handle the range of military operations in Iraq, including peace support, civil military operations, and at the same time conduct strategic engagement such as talking to the sheiks and talking to the political authorities."
The United States Army Regimental System (USARS) is an organizational and classification system used by the United States Army. It was established in 1981 to replace the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) to provide each soldier with continuous identification with a single regiment, and to increase a soldier's probability of serving recurring assignments with their regiment. The USARS was intended to enhance combat effectiveness by providing the opportunity for a regimental affiliation, thus obtaining some of the benefits of the traditional regimental system.
The reorganization plan of the United States Army was implemented from 2006 to 2016 under the direction of the Brigade Modernization Command. This effort formally began in 2006 when General Peter Schoomaker was given the support to move the Army from its Cold War divisional orientation to a full-spectrum capability with fully manned, equipped and trained brigades; this effort was completed by the end of 2016. It has been the most comprehensive reorganization since World War II and included modular combat brigades, support brigades, and command headquarters, as well as rebalancing the active and reserve components.
In the United States (US) military, a beret flash is a shield-shaped embroidered cloth that is typically 2.25 in (5.72 cm) tall and 1.875 in (4.76 cm) wide with a semi–circular base that is attached to a stiffener backing of a military beret. These flashes—a British English word for a colorful cloth patch attached to military headgear—are worn over the left eye with the excess cloth of the beret shaped, folded, and pulled over the right ear giving it a distinctive appearance.
In 2009, the United States and NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition, along with Afghan National Army forces, continued military operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan. 2009 marks the eighth year of the War in Afghanistan, which began late in 2001. And 75th ranger regiment is also in Afghanistan as of 2018
The structure of the United States Army is complex, and can be interpreted in several different ways: active/reserve, operational/administrative, and branches/functional areas.
Train Advise Assist Command – East was a multinational military formation, part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission within Afghanistan. Until 2014 it was designated Regional Command East, part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The United States Army provided the force headquarters. The command headquarters was located in Laghman Province.