55th Sustainment Brigade (United States)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 55th Sustainment Brigade


caption=55th Sustainment Brigade shoulder sleeve insignia
dates= 2006-present
country= United States
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branch= United States Army Reserve
type= Sustainment Brigade
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size= Brigade
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The 55th Sustainment Brigade is a sustainment brigade of the United States Army Reserve.

It is locared at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Activated in March 2006, the unit has served at least one tour in Iraq.

The 55th Sustainment Brigade was established in September 2006 from the 55th Theater Material Management Center. The 55th TSC (MMC) consists of forward and rear elements. This organization operates under a split-based concept with a forward element that is in support of deployed theater units while maintaining a rear element in support of non-deployed units. When required, this organization deploys Material Management Teams (MMTs) capable of providing limited Corps Materiel Management Center (CMMC) forward functions and immediate communications with all elements prior to the establishment of the theater communications network.

The 55th Materiel Management Center (MMC), Theater Support Command (TSC), (Multi-Component) was activated on 17 October 2000 by combining the 55th MMC in Fort Belvoir, Virginia and the 6th Support Center, MMC's, in Taegu, Korea. The 55th MMC is now Multi-Component - part Reserve and part Active Duty unit. The active duty component is based at Camp Henry, South Korea and the reserve component is at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The mission on the 55th is to Perform integrated supply and maintenance management at Theater level for the Army Service Component Theater Support Command on all classes of supply (less classified maps, medical, and COMSEC) and for all assigned and designated maintenance activities.

55th Sustainment Brigade Lineage

The 55th MMCs Lineage began with the creation of the 435th Highway Transport Command (HTC) in 1954. In 1963, the 435th HTC was reorganized and redesignated as the 300th Transportation Group (TG). In 1969, the 300th TG was redesignated as the 300th Field Army Support Command. On 30 November 1977, the 300th Field Army Support Command was reorganized and redesignated as the 55th MMC. The 55th MMC was assigned to the 310th Logistical Command at the John Singleton Mosby United States Army Reserve Center, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

When the 310th Logistical Command moved from Fort Myer, Virginia to a warehouse in the heart of Old Town Alexandria, Virginia the new home was designated the Mosby USAR Center" in honor of Colonel John Singleton Mosby, also known as 'The Gray Ghost' who was a native of Alexandria. Colonel Mosby's Rangers operated primarily in the Northern Virginia area often disrupting the logistical supply lines of the Union Army. During the late 1950s, his exploits received wide publicity as the result of the weekly television series "The Gray Ghost". The series was based on the book "Gray Ghosts and Rebel Raiders" by Virgil Carrington Jones. When the 310th moved to the Army Reserve Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia in 1975, the building was dedicated as the John Singleton Mosby United States Army Reserve Center (JSMUSARC).)

For two decades, the 55th MMC's training prepared the soldiers to augment the 200th Theater Army Materiel Management Center (TAMIMC) in Zweibruecken, Germany. This paired the reserve soldiers with their counterpart active duty personnel and units with whom they would be involved if there were to be war in Europe. The 55th MMC soldiers were present on an Active Tour (AT) when the Berlin Wall came down. Soldiers from the 55th MMC have served with distinction in a wide variety of missions, including individuals who have been called to active duty to support the Army's objectives in Operation Desert Shield and Storm" (Persian Gulf) and "Operation Restore Democracy" (Haiti).

From 8 July 1996 through 3 February 1997, a seventy-person cell from the 55th MMC was mobilized for active duty to support the United Nations Peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. The unit's mission provided logistical and materiel management support to the soldiers of the U.S. Army's 1st Armor Division, 1st Infantry Division and other elements enforcing the peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A secondary mission was to assist those support elements based in Kapsovar and Taszar, Hungary. These locations became the main staging bases for all U.S. forces entering and leaving the Balkan theater of operations. Mission requirements were such that the 55th MMC soldiers found themselves stationed throughout the theater of operations in Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary. The 55th MMC functioned as a materiel management center for all supplies at the corps level during its deployment. Adapting to changes since the end of the Cold War, the 55th MMC was reassigned from the 310th Theater Army Area Command (TAACOM) to the 99th Regional Support Command on 16 April 2000.

In support of the U.S. Army transformation objective and to ensure the ability to perform its wartime mission in non-linear, non-contiguous operational environments, the 55th MMC converted to the 55th Sustainment Brigade on 16 September 2006. On January 2, 2008 the unit was activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where it’s troops are currently deployed, sustaining the force and securing the victory.

References

* [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47372 Defenselink News Article]
* [http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Sustain/55SustainmentBrigade.htm The Institute of Heraldry: 55th Sustainment Brigade]