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United States Army Transportation Corps | |
---|---|
Active | 31 July 1942 –Present [1] [2] [3] |
Country | United States of America |
Branch | United States Army |
Garrison/HQ | Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, U.S. |
Motto(s) | One and Done [4] |
Corps colors | Brick Red and Golden Yellow Piping |
Engagements | American Revolutionary War American Indian Wars Seminole Wars Mexican War American Civil War Red River War World War I World War II Korean War Vietnam War Invasion of Grenada Invasion of Panama Persian Gulf War Somali Civil War Operation Iraqi Freedom Bosnian War Kosovo War War in Afghanistan War in Iraq |
Commanders | |
Chief of Transportation | BG Beth A. Behn |
Regimental Chief Warrant Officer | CW5 John L. Zabler |
Insignia | |
Transportation Corps Regimental Unit Crest |
The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Quartermaster Corps and the Ordnance Corps. The Corps was established in its current form on 31 July 1942, with predecessor services dating back to the American Civil War. The Transportation Corps is currently headquartered at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia. The officer in charge of the branch for doctrine, training, and professional development purposes is the Chief of Transportation (CoT) and Commandant of the US Army Transportation School, currently held by BG Beth A. Behn. The Corps's motto is "Nothing Happens Until Something Moves" (https://transportation.army.mil/).
During the American Civil War, transportation proved to be an integral part of military logistics through the organization of railroads as a viable and efficient means of military transportation. The US Army centralized the management of rail into the United States Military Railroad (USMRR). The Army Quartermaster purchased eight City-class ironclads on the Mississippi River in February 1862, a full month before the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia set sail. City Point, Virginia in 1864 would become the largest port operation in the Western Hemisphere in 1864. By 1864, five of the nine divisions in the Quartermaster Department dealt exclusively with transportation. The Army Transport Service was one of the divisions that was responsible for land and water transport. A substantial number of battles were won because of the field commander's ability to swiftly and effectively move troops and supplies. Most wounded soldiers were carried away in a banana-shaped cart called a gondola. [5]
During the Spanish–American War, the task of mobilizing and deploying a largely volunteer force to Cuba and the Philippines magnified the need for a separate transportation service within the Quartermaster Department. Army transporters worked with both the civilian railroads and the maritime industry to pull together a successful intermodal operation. [5]
The American Expeditionary Force that deployed to France during World War I emphasized the need for a single transportation manager. William W. Atterbury, a former railroad executive, was commissioned as a brigadier general and appointed as the Director-General of Transportation and a separate Motor Transport Corps of the National Army was established to manage trucks on 15 August 1918. The United States Army School for Truck Drivers had been established by 9 July 1918; [6] and the Transportation Corps of the AEF was abolished after the war, [5] The M.T.C. subsequently conducted Transcontinental Motor Convoys in 1919 and 1920.
On 9 March 1942 the Transportation Service was established as part of the Services of Supply. In March 1942, the transportation functions were consolidated into the Transportation Division of the newly created Services of Supply. On 31 July 1942, the Transportation Service became the Transportation Corps. [7] By the end of the war the Transportation Corps had moved more than 30 million soldiers within the continental United States; and 7 million soldiers plus 126 million tons of supplies overseas. [5] From the beginning in England in late May 1942, the Transportation Corps operations in the ETO were directed by Colonel (later Maj. Gen.) Frank S. Ross who had been selected by Maj. Gen. John C. H. Lee, Commanding General, Services of Supply (after the D-Day invasion called the Communications Zone, or Com-Z), European Theater of Operations.
One of the greatest feats of the Transportation Corps, via the Military Railway Service, was the rebuilding of France's shattered railroad network after D-Day and the transportation of 1,500 locomotives and 20,000 railway cars specially built for the lighter French track system starting with D-Day + 38. To speed the process, and avoid delays caused by French channel ports and docks destroyed by the retreating Germans, the Transportation Corps brought the heavy railroad stock across the channel and across the beaches in specially built LSTs. [8]
As allied forces rapidly advanced across France in the summer of 1944, a special transportation operation nicknamed the Red Ball Express was carried out from 25 August to 16 November. The Red Ball Express provided around the clock truck convoys from allied held ports to supply troops on the front in a giant, one-way loop. There were other lesser known truck-route express operations: the Green Diamond Express operated out of Cherbourg due south, to serve the forces advancing on Brittany and Brest. Later the White Ball Highway Express operated out of Le Havre to the same depots served by the Red Ball. Later still, the A B C Highway moved men and supplies from the Belgian port of Antwerp to the front. The story of the Red Ball Express was told in the 1950s movie Red Ball Express. There was a short lived television series in the early 1970s named Roll Out which focused on the experiences of a fictional African American motor transportation unit involved with the Red Ball Express.
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union extended from 1945 into 1991, spanning the Gulf War. When the Soviet Union cordoned off the city of Berlin in 1948, the Transportation Corps played a vital role in sustaining the city. Two years later, on 28 June 1950, President Harry S. Truman established the Transportation Corps as a permanent branch of the Army. [5]
During the Korean War, the Transportation Corps kept the UN Forces supplied through three winters. By the time the armistice was signed, the Transportation Corps had moved more than 3 million soldiers and 7 million tons of cargo. [5]
The Vietnam War saw the most diversified assortment of transportation units ever assembled. For over a decade the Transportation Corps provided continuous support for American and allied forces through an unimproved tropical environment using watercraft, amphibians, motor trucks and Transportation Corps aircraft. The enemy threat to convoys required a unique solution - gun trucks. [5]
On 31 July 1986, the Transportation Corps was inducted into the U.S. Army Regimental System.
In 1990 the Transportation Corps faced one of its greatest challenges with the onset of the Gulf War. During Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, the Transportation Corps working out of ports on three continents demonstrating its ability to deploy and sustain massive forces. [5]
Operations in Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, Bosnia, and Iraq have also seen the deployment of large numbers of transportation units. [5]
When the coalition forces invaded Afghanistan, the Transportation Corps opened up the air line of communication into the country and until 2008, a single movement control battalion managed all logistics in Regional Command-East. As the number of brigade combat teams increased in Afghanistan in 2006, the Transportation Corps began ground convoy operations.
The 143rd Transportation Command opened the port and supported the push to Baghdad in March 2003. After Baghdad fell in April, the maneuver operation matured into a sustainment operation with a hub and spoke supply line. Once the enemy began attacking convoys, the truck drivers responded with an age old solution of hardening trucks with steel and adding machine guns thus making gun trucks and convoy security a permanent part of Transportation doctrine. No matter how great the threat, the Transportation Corps delivered the goods. During Operation New Dawn, the Transportation Corps was responsible for retrograding all the equipment out of Iraq by the December 2012 deadline.
When it was established in 1942, it was based at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Headquarters were moved to Fort Lee starting in 2010. [9] On April 27, 2023, Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams. [10] At the time, only seven Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) courses were being taught at the new Fort Lee Transportation School. [9] For example, Cargo Specialist (MOS 88H), Watercraft Operator (MOS 88K) and Watercraft Engineer (MOS 88L) training remained at Fort Eustis, which is the main housing of the Army's Watercraft. Railway training for Army Reserve soldiers (MOSs 88P, 88T, and 88U) and Army civilian employees also remained at Fort Eustis, as there are only warehouse tracks and no railway system available for training at Fort Lee. Motor Transportation Operator (truck driver, MOS 88M) training is conducted at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Fort Gregg-Adams, in Prince George County, Virginia, United States, is a United States Army post and headquarters of the United States Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM)/ Sustainment Center of Excellence (SCoE), the U.S. Army Quartermaster School, the U.S. Army Ordnance School, the U.S. Army Transportation School, the Army Sustainment University (ALU), Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), and the U.S. Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA).
The Red Ball Express was a famed truck convoy system that supplied Allied forces moving quickly through Europe after breaking out from the D-Day beaches in Normandy in 1944. To expedite cargo shipment to the front, trucks emblazoned with red balls followed a similarly marked route that was closed to civilian traffic. The trucks also had priority on regular roads.
Fort Eustis is a United States Army installation in Newport News, Virginia. In 2010, it was combined with nearby Langley Air Force Base to form Joint Base Langley–Eustis.
The Persian Corridor was a supply route through Iran into Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II. Of the 17.5 million long tons of US Lend-Lease aid provided to the Soviet Union, 7.9 million long tons (45%) were sent through Iran.
The United States Army Quartermaster Corps, formerly the Quartermaster Department, is a sustainment and former combat service support (CSS) branch of the United States Army. It is also one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Transportation Corps and the Ordnance Corps.
The U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and is located at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia. Subordinate to CASCOM is the Sustainment Center of Excellence (SCoE), which oversees and coordinates the five sustainment branches of the Army and the Army Sustainment University. The commander of CASCOM is dual-hatted as the head of SCoE. The CASCOM commander also serves as the commander of Fort Gregg-Adams.
The San Francisco Port of Embarkation (SFPOE) was a United States Army command responsible for movement of supplies and troops to and from the Pacific during World War II with extensive facilities in the San Francisco area. SFPOE was established 6 May 1932 and disestablished 1 October 1955. It was originally composed of the long term Pacific terminal at Fort Mason that had been the home port and terminal for the Pacific Army Transport Service ships. That facility was far too limited to serve the requirements of a full port of embarkation. In 1940 the port began expansion to include Army owned and leased facilities throughout the San Francisco Bay area and for a time sub ports at Seattle and Los Angeles. Those eventually became separate commands as the Seattle Port of Embarkation and Los Angeles Port of Embarkation.
The Boston Port of Embarkation (BPOE) was a United States Army command responsible for the movement of troops and supplies from the United States to overseas commands. In World War I it was a sub-port of the New York Port of Embarkation. During World War II it became an independent Port of Embarkation with the second greatest number of passengers embarked and third greatest tonnage of cargo embarked by east coast Ports of Embarkation. In passengers it was exceeded on the east coast only by New York and in cargo only by New York and the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation. Within three months after entry of the United States into World War II Boston was being established as a sub-port of New York. With establishment of the United States Army Transportation Corps in March 1942 the Boston sub-port became the independent Boston Port of Embarkation.
The New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE) was a United States Army command responsible for the movement of troops and supplies from the United States to overseas commands. The command had facilities in New York and New Jersey, roughly covering the extent of today's Port of New York and New Jersey, as well as ports in other cities as sub-ports under its direct command. During World War I, when it was originally known as the Hoboken Port of Embarkation with headquarters in seized Hamburg America Line facilities in Hoboken, New Jersey, the Quartermaster Corps had responsibility. The sub-ports were at Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and the Canadian ports of Halifax, Montreal and St. Johns. The World War I port of embarkation was disestablished, seized and requisitioned facilities returned or sold and operations consolidated at the new army terminal in Brooklyn. Between the wars reduced operations continued the core concepts of a port of embarkation and as the home port of Atlantic army ships. With war in Europe the army revived the formal New York Port of Embarkation command with the New York port, the only Atlantic port of embarkation, taking a lead in developing concepts for operations.
The Army Service Forces was one of the three autonomous components of the United States Army during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces, created on 9 March 1942. By dividing the Army into three large commands, the Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, drastically reduced the number of officers and agencies reporting directly to him. The Army Service Forces brought together elements of five different components of the Army: elements of the War Department General Staff (WDGS), especially its G-4 division ; the Office of the Under Secretary of War; the eight administrative bureaus; the nine corps areas, which became service commands; and the six supply arms and services, which became known as the technical services. The Army Service Forces was initially known as the United States Army Services of Supply but the name was changed on 12 March 1943, as it was felt that the term "supply" did not accurately describe the broad range of its activities. The Army Service Forces was abolished on 11 June 1946 and most of its functions were taken over by the War Department General Staff.
The U.S. Army Transportation Museum is a United States Army museum of vehicles and other transportation-related equipment and memorabilia. It is located on the grounds of Fort Eustis, Virginia, in Newport News, on the Virginia Peninsula.
The 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) is a Transportation brigade of the United States Army. It is known and referred to as "the most deployed unit in the Army" because of its continuous mission to provide logistical support to all branches of the service for both training and war-time activities.
The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) is the Army Service Component Command of the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) and is a major subordinate command to Army Materiel Command (AMC). This relationship links USTRANSCOM's Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise and AMC's Materiel Enterprise. The command also partners with the commercial transportation industry as the coordinating link between DOD surface transportation requirements and the capability industry provides.
Near the city's western end, a historic C&O railroad station, as well as American Civil War battle sites near historic Lee Hall along U.S. Route 60 and several 19th century plantations have all been protected. Many are located along the roads leading to Yorktown and Williamsburg, where many sites of the Historic Triangle are of both American Revolutionary War and Civil War significance. The first modern duel of ironclad warships, the Battle of Hampton Roads, took place not far off Newport News Point in 1862.
The Motor Transport Corps (M.T.C.) was formed out of the United States Army Quartermaster Corps on 15 August 1918, by General Order No. 75. Men needed to staff this new corps were recruited from the skilled tradesmen working for automotive manufacturers in the US.
The 68th Division Sustainment Support Battalion is a U.S. Army support battalion stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado. The battalion motto is "Stagecoach, LET'S GO". The 68th Division Sustainment Support Battalion's current call sign is "Stagecoach". The 68th DSSB has deployed overseas to India, Burma, Somalia, Cuba, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The Class-B Standardized Military Truck or "Liberty Truck" was a heavy-duty truck produced by the United States Army during World War I. It was designed by the Quartermaster Corps with help from the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1910 in an effort to help standardize the immense parts catalogue and multiple types of vehicles then in use by the US military, as well as create a truck which possessed all the best features of heavy truck technology then available. It was the first official standardized motor vehicle adopted and produced by the US Military.
The 59th Quartermaster Company is a bulk petroleum company designed to provide semi-portable storage for 2.5 million US gallons (9,500 m3) of fuel and to provide distribution of fuel to military units within a specified geographic area while deployed overseas. Its secondary mission is to provide an armed military escort to military cargo and civilian trucks during overseas contingency operations. It is a U.S. Army Forces Command combat service support unit stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado under the command of the 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. The 59th has deployed overseas to Algeria, Italy, France, Germany, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The 59th is the only bulk petroleum company in the Regular Army; all sister units are part of the Army Reserve as of 2011.
The 11th Transportation Battalion is a transportation battalion of the United States Army first formed in 1936. The 11th Transportation Battalion is a subordinate unit of the 7th Transportation Brigade.
The 12th Port of Embarkation, later designated 377th Theater Sustainment Command, was constituted on 2 July 1942 and was activated 5 July 1942 at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The unit was converted, reorganized, and redesignated 7 November 1942 as the 12th Port. The unit was inactivated 4 January 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey and later redesignated 3 November 1948 in New Orleans, Louisiana, as the 377th Transportation Major Port. On 11 September 1950 the 377th was called to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. Later, the unit moved to Fort Eustis, Virginia and stayed on active Federal Service until 10 October 1952. From 1953 until 1963, the 377th remained in a Reserve status and experienced several changes in unit designation.
The newest of army training schools has just opened at the University of Virginia. It is the United States Army School for Truck Drivers. Over 500 men are now taking the course and the schedule of instruction calls for the graduation into the service of three classes of 600 men each between now and 20 Nov. next.