United States Army Forces Command

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 regional combatant commands[1]
Garrison/HQ Fort Bragg
Motto(s) Freedom's Guardian
Website www.army.mil/info/organization/unitsandcommands/commandstructure/FORSCOM/
Commanders
Current
commander		 GEN Robert B. Abrams
Deputy commander LTG Laura J. Richardson
Notable
commanders		 Complete list of commanders
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) is the largest United States Army command and provider of expeditionary, regionally engaged, campaign-capable land forces to combatant commanders. Headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, FORSCOM consists of more than 750,000 Active Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard soldiers. FORSCOM provides enhanced land power gaining operational depth and versatility through a mix of fully integrated Active and Reserve Component forces operating in a joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational (JIIM) environment. Its organizations are expeditionary, campaign focused, and tailorable to provide combatant commanders the required capabilities to be decisive across the range of military operations. FORSCOM was created on July 1, 1973, from the former Continental Army Command (CONARC).

Mission and Vision

The mission of the command: "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 of the command is: "Combat ready and globally responsive Total Army Forces that are well led, disciplined, trained, and expeditionary … that will win in a complex world."

The Army command provides Army forces to the joint war fight. FORSCOM prepares U.S. Army conventional forces to provide a sustained flow of trained and ready land power to combatant commanders in defense of the nation at home and abroad.

For the Army of 2020, FORSCOM provides enhanced land power gaining operational depth and versatility through a mix of fully integrated Active and Reserve Component forces operating in a joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational environment. Organizations will be expeditionary, campaign focused, and tailorable to provide combatant commanders the required capabilities to be decisive across the range of military operations.

FORSCOM has defined the "sustainment mission command capability"[2] (SMCC) which institutionalizes the sustainment mission at brigade combat team level. Sustainment brigades, formerly reporting directly to FORSCOM's deputy commanding general, are each assigned to individual installations.

Overview

Using the Army Force Generation process (ARFORGEN),[3] FORSCOM tailors the resources and training of its units to meet the specific and constantly changing requirements of combatant commanders and, when directed, of U.S. civil authorities. Those requirements range from preparing soldiers to fight on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, to providing relief to disaster victims. The command remains at the point of the effort to transform the Army into a more deployable and maneuverable lethal force. This shift to a modular force design increases the number of units available to support regional combatant commanders. It will expand the available force pool and mandate a standard set of force structures organized and equipped to be interchangeable.

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 Polk, Louisiana. They present training scenarios constantly updated to reflect changing battlefield conditions and to incorporate lessons learned. Soldiers are presented with complex, cross-cultural challenges by large numbers of role players who act as combatants and foreign citizens. NTC and JRTC have urban combat landscapes and cave and tunnel complexes to simulate current and potential wartime environments.

As directed by law, and in accordance with the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, Fort McPherson, Georgia, closed and FORSCOM relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A new FORSCOM/U.S. Army Reserve Command Headquarters facility completed construction at Fort Bragg, in June 2011. Forces Command hosted an Army "Casing of the Colors" ceremony on 24 June 2011 at Fort McPherson, and an "Uncasing of Colors" on 1 Aug. 2011 at Fort Bragg.

Lineage

Active component

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: I Corps at Fort Lewis, Washington; III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas; and XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, 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.

United States Army Reserve

A major subordinate command of Forces Command is the United States Army Reserve Command (USARC), also is headquartered (in the same building as FORSCOM)[4] at Fort Bragg, N.C. It commands all Army Reserve units in the continental United States, except those assigned to Special Operations Command. FORSCOM's Army Reserve strength stands at about 179,000 soldiers.

USARC units are part of the Federal force and make their primary contribution to FORSCOM combat power in combat support and combat service support specialties, such as medical, civil affairs, transportation, maintenance and supply. Many USARC units are designated to deploy early for contingency operations worldwide.

Army National Guard

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.

Subordinate units

References

  1. ↑ https://www.forscom.army.mil/Pages/About
  2. ↑ FORSCOM's SMCC
  3. ↑ See Force Generation (ARFORGEN).asp US Army Posture Statement ARFORGEN
  4. ↑ FORSCOM command team visits new headquarters site

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