94th Regional Readiness Command (United States)

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94th Regional Readiness Command shoulder sleeve insignia

94th Regional Readiness Command DUI

The United States Army Reserves is broken up into 10 Regional Readiness Commands. Each zone encompasses a specific part of the country.

The 94th Regional Readiness Command is one of those 10 zones of reserve command. The 94th, based at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, includes all of New England (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.) Note: The 94th RRC wears the shoulder patch of the 94th Infantry Division, but is not entitled to the division's lineage and honors. The US Army Center of Military History states that, while current RRCs wear the patches of formerly active divisions of the same number, the RRCs do not perpetuate the lineages of the old divisions and are not entitled to their battle honors.

1 Unit History
2 Unit Composition
3 External links

[edit] Unit History

[edit] World War I

The 94th was originally formed as the 94th Division, based out of Puerto Rico in 1918. With the close of World War I, the unit was disbanded and only survived on paper. In 1921, the unit was re-activated and called the "Pilgrim Division" in reference to the rich cultural history of the region and the unit's patch, a blunderbass-carrying pilgrim.

[edit] World War II

When the 94th Infantry Division was activated at Fort Custer near Kalamazoo, Michigan on September 15, 1942 (with "infantry" as part of its designation), the shoulder patch was changed to the now-familiar half-black, half-gray circle with the Arabic numerals 9 and 4 superimposed in reverse colors.

As part of General Patton's 3rd Army, the 94th ID was known as "Patton's Golden Nugget," and fought in numerous battles within the European Theater of Operations.

The 94th ID landed across Utah Beach, France, on September 8, 1944 and relieved the 6th Armored Division (AD) at Lorient and St. Nazaire, where German garrisons were besieged. The 94th ID engaged in containment activities there until relieved by the 66th Infantry Division on January 1, 1945. It then moved into positions in the Saar-Moselle Triangle and relieved the 90th Infantry Division south of Wasserbillig.

The division fought in the Battle of Nennig; the Battle of Orscholz; and the Battle of Berg. On February 19, 1945, supported by heavy artillery and air support, the division attacked with all three regiments to breach the West Wall switch-line defenses and clear the Berg-Munzingen Highway. It then followed the 10th Armored Division and cleared the Saar-Mosel Triangle below Ordholz and Saarburg.

The division crossed the Ruwer River by ford and bridge on March 13, 1945, participating in the Battle for Ludwigshafen. On April 3, 1945 the division relieved the 102nd Infantry Division along the Rhine. There it assumed responsibility for containing the western side of the Ruhr Pocket.

By mid-April, the division relieved the 101st Airborne Division and assumed military government duties, first in the Krefeld vicinity and later around Düsseldorf. It was in that status when hostilities were declared at an end on May 7, 1945.

The division assumed occupation duties around Düsseldorf from the end of April to mid-June, and then in Czechoslovakia until the end of November. It was inactivated on 9 February 1946.

[edit] Vietnam

The next significant event for the 94th ID occurred in 1967 when the division was inactivated. The number was reactivated as the 94th Army Reserve Command (ARCOM), a regional non-tactical peacetime headquarters for unrelated support units and headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. Two company-level units within the 94th ARCOM served in Vietnam.

[edit] Gulf War

In 1991-1992, over 1,000 soldiers from the 94th ARCOM served overseas in support of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

[edit] Re-Organization

In 1995, the 94th ARCOM became the 94th Regional Support Command (RSC) and moved to Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

[edit] Operation New Horizon/Joint Guardian/Joint Forge

The 94th RSC deployed Soldiers to Honduras and Guatemala in 1999 for Operation New Horizon and later to the Balkans in support of Operation Joint Guardian and Operation Joint Forge.

Renamed the 94th Regional Readiness Command, the unit deployed members of the 94th Military Police Company in support of Operation New Horizon in Rambala-Bocas del Toro, Panama in spring 2007.

[edit] War on Terror

After September 11, 2001, the 94th RSC deployed soldiers in support of Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Mission areas include Continental United States (CONUS), Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Horn of Africa and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

[edit] Present Day

In December 2002, the 94th RSC moved into its current Headquarters at Devens, Massachusetts.

In August 2003, the 94th RSC was redesignated the 94th Regional Readiness Command (RRC).

[edit] Unit Composition

The 94th Regional Readiness Command is made up of more than 6,000 citizen-soldiers who serve with 56 units located throughout New England.

The 94th RRC has mobilized and deployed over 20 units and more than 2,500 soldiers in support of the Global War on Terror.

Only one unit within the 94th RRC, the Londonderry-based 94th Military Police Company [1], still retains direct lineage to the 94th Infantry Division.