United States Army Materiel Command

U.S. Army Materiel Command
AMC Shoulder Sleeve Insignia
Active	1962–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Type	Army Command
Role	Develops, maintains, and supports materiel capabilities for the Army [1]
Size	more than 60,000 military and civilians
Garrison/HQ	Redstone Arsenal
Motto(s)	If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, communicates with it, or eats it – AMC provides it.
March	Arsenal for the Brave [2]
Website	AMC — The Army's Materiel Integrator www.army.mil/info/organization/unitsandcommands/commandstructure/amc/
Commanders
Current commander	LTG Christopher Mohan (acting) [3]
Command Sergeant Major	CSM Jimmy J. Sellers
Notable commanders	Frank S. Besson, Jr. Ferdinand J. Chesarek
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

The U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) is the primary provider of materiel to the United States Army. The Command's mission includes the management of installations, as well as maintenance and parts distribution.

AMC operates depots; arsenals; ammunition plants; and other facilities, and maintains the Army's prepositioned stocks, both on land and afloat. ^[4]

The command is also the Department of Defense Executive Agent for the chemical weapons stockpile and for conventional ammunition.

AMC is responsible for the business of selling United States Army equipment and services to allies of the United States and negotiates and implements agreements for co-production of U.S. weapons systems by other states.

History

AMC was established on 8 May 1962 and was activated on 1 August of that year as a major field command of the U.S. Army. Lieutenant General Frank S. Besson, Jr., who directed the implementation of the Department of Army study that recommended creation of a "materiel development and logistics command", served as its first commander.

On Aug. 1, 1962, the various field activities and installations were transferred to AMC and the command became fully operational.

They came primarily from six of the technical services: Chief Chemical Officer, Chief of Engineers, Chief of Ordnance (the largest single source of AMC installations), the Quartermaster General, Chief Signal Officer, and the Chief of Transportation. ^[5] The seventh Technical Service, The Surgeon General, provided one medical depot, and several other installations and activities came from Headquarters, Department of the Army (DA) Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, the Continental Army Command, and the Chief of Research and Development.

Between January 1976 and August 1984, AMC was officially designated the United States Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (commonly referred to as DARCOM). ^[6]

In December 2024, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, "in a dramatic and rare move," dismissed General Charles R. Hamilton, the AMC commanding general, following an Army investigation that concluded he had improperly intervened to arrange a battalion command position for a female lieutenant colonel he favoured. ^[7]

Locations

AMC is currently headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and has operations in approximately 149 locations worldwide including more than 49 American States and 50 countries. AMC employs upwards of 70,000 military and civilian employees. AMC was located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia between 2003 and 2005 before being relocated to Alabama by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. From 1973 to 2003, AMC was headquartered in a building at 5001 Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia, and prior to 1973, it was headquartered at what is now Reagan National Airport. ^[8]

Commanders

General Charles R. Hamilton assumes command of AMC from General Edward M. Daly on 16 March 2023.

No.	Commander [9]		Term
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Term length
1		General Frank S. Besson Jr.	2 April 1962	10 March 1969	6 years, 342 days
2		General Ferdinand J. Chesarek	10 March 1969	1 November 1970	1 year, 236 days
3		General Henry A. Miley Jr.	1 November 1970	12 February 1975	4 years, 103 days
4		General John R. Deane Jr.	12 February 1975	1 February 1977	1 year, 355 days
5		Lieutenant General George Sammet Jr. [11]	1 February 1977	1 May 1977	89 days
6		General John R. Guthrie	1 May 1977	1 August 1981	4 years, 92 days
7		General Donald R. Keith	1 August 1981	29 June 1984	2 years, 333 days
8		General Richard H. Thompson	29 June 1984	13 April 1987	2 years, 288 days
9		General Louis C. Wagner Jr.	13 April 1987	27 September 1989	2 years, 167 days
10		General William G.T. Tuttle Jr.	27 September 1989	31 January 1992	2 years, 126 days
11		General Jimmy D. Ross	31 January 1992	11 February 1994	2 years, 11 days
12		General Leon E. Salomon	11 February 1994	27 March 1996	2 years, 45 days
13		General Johnnie E. Wilson	27 March 1996	14 May 1999	3 years, 48 days
14		General John G. Coburn	14 May 1999	30 October 2001	2 years, 169 days
15		General Paul J. Kern	30 October 2001	5 November 2004	3 years, 6 days
16		General Benjamin S. Griffin	5 November 2004	14 November 2008	4 years, 9 days
17		General Ann E. Dunwoody	14 November 2008	28 June 2012	3 years, 227 days
18		General Dennis L. Via	28 June 2012	30 September 2016	4 years, 94 days
19		General Gustave F. Perna	30 September 2016	2 July 2020	3 years, 276 days
20		General Edward M. Daly	2 July 2020	16 March 2023	2 years, 257 days
21		General Charles R. Hamilton	16 March 2023	22 March 2024	1 year, 6 days
-		Lieutenant General Christopher Mohan Acting	22 March 2024	Incumbent	362 days

Major subordinate commands

• United States Army Contracting Command
• United States Army Sustainment Command
• United States Army Aviation and Missile Command
• United States Army Communications-Electronics Command, ^[12]
• United States Army Chemical Materials Activity
• Joint Munitions Command ^{[13] [14]}
• United States Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command ^[15]
• United States Army Security Assistance Command
• United States Army Medical Logistics Command
• United States Army Financial Management Command, formerly a direct reporting unit of the Department of the Army, is now subordinate to AMC, effective 1 Oct. 2019 ^[16]
• United States Army Installation Management Command, formerly a direct reporting unit of the Department of the Army, will now be part of AMC ^{[17] [18]}
• Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command
• See also: United States Army Medical Materiel Agency (a Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC))

Formerly subordinate commands

• Combat Capabilities Development Command or CCDC (formerly United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command) completed its transfer to United States Army Futures Command on 3 February 2019, which operates research and development engineering centers; Army Research Laboratories supports the centers' activities.
• U.S. Army Industrial Operations Command, included Anniston Munitions Center ^[19]

Other commands

• Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives

See also

Comparable organizationsU.S. Armed Forces systems commands

• Marine Corps Systems Command
• United States Navy systems commands
  • Naval Sea Systems Command
  • Naval Air Systems Command
  • Naval Information Warfare Systems Command
  • Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command
  • Naval Supply Systems Command
• Air Force Materiel Command
• Space Systems Command

Notes

1. "U.S. Army Materiel Command". Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
2. "U.S. Army Materiel Command Band". U.S. Army Materiel Command. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
3. Severi, Misty (23 March 2024). "Four-star Army general suspended after pressuring panel over unfit officer - Washington Examiner" . Retrieved 24 March 2024.
4. Cotton 2019.
5. "History 1962-1975". www.amc.army.mil. Archived from the original on 4 March 2025. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
6. "Records of the United States Army Materiel Command". archives.gov. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
7. Beynon, Steve (17 December 2024). "Army Secretary Fires 4-Star General Who Meddled in Promotion of Unfit Subordinate". Military.com. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
8. "AMC in the Seventies: a decade of celebration, change". army.mil. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
9. Army.mil – AMC Former Commanders
11. Note: Sammet was listed as commanding general of U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command despite his retirement 89 days later.
12. Alexandria Soller, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) (February 26, 2019) Staying ahead of modernization requirements, ensuring readiness
13. Tony Lopez (AMC) (September 21, 2018) JMC Commander promoted to Brigadier General
14. Elizabeth Behring (AMC) (May 10, 2019) Ensuring Readiness for the Strategic Support Area: Munitions Readiness
15. TACOM Public Affairs (May 31, 2019) Gen. Perna gets update on Soldier and ground systems readiness efforts
16. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner, U.S. Army Financial Management Command (Oct. 31, 2019) Bennett takes command of realigned USAFMCOM
    • Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner, U.S. Army Financial Management Command (Oct. 23, 2019) Bennett to command USAFMCOM
17. Army News Service (11 Feb 2019) Installation Management Command to realign under Army Materiel Command
18. Wendy Brown, U.S. Army Garrison Japan Public Affairs (March 11, 2019) U.S. Army Garrison Japan Soldiers don Army Materiel Command patch
19. "History" (PDF). Retrieved 19 March 2025.

• Cotton, Megan (6 June 2019). "Ensuring Readiness for Strategic Support: Strategic Power Projection". United States Army.

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army
•  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army

External links

• Official website
• Media related to United States Army Materiel Command at Wikimedia Commons