55th Sustainment Brigade (United States)
Encyclopedia
The 55th Sustainment Brigade is a sustainment
Sustainment Brigade
As part of the early 21st century transformation of the United States Army from a division-based structure to a brigade-based army; the Division Support Commands, Corps Support Groups, and Area Support Groups are being inactivated or transformed to Sustainment Brigades As part of the early 21st...

 brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...

 of the United States Army Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....

.

It is located at Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Originally, it was the site of the Belvoir plantation. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations...

, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. Activated in March 2006, the unit has served at least one tour in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

.

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 (TAMMC) 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 2 January 2008 the unit was activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and returned home in December 2008.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

  • Col. Therese O'Brien 2008 - 2009
  • CSM James Hill 2008 - 2009


The 55th Sustainment Brigade tooked command of sustainment operations at Joint Base Balad Iraq on March 2, 2008.
The 55th provided logistical oversight of key commodities, distribution of all classes of supply and key maintenance services during their combat tour in support of Multi-National Divisions-North and Baghdad. http://www.usar.army.mil/arweb/newsandmedia/storiesfromthefront/Pages/20081212.aspx
A subordinate brigade of the 3d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), the 55th Sust. Bde. made history as the first reserve-component sustainment brigade to be deployed to Iraq. http://www.usar.army.mil/arweb/newsandmedia/storiesfromthefront/Pages/20081212.aspx
Since its arrival in March of 2008, the 55th Sust. Bde. completed over 3,225 combat logistics patrols, drove over 6,800,000 miles, processed over 7500 transportation movement requests, and partnered with the 8th Iraqi Army and Kirkush Location Command to improve Iraq's military drive towards self-sustainment. On December 11, 2008 the 55th Sustainment Brigade transfer authority to the 304th Sustainment Brigade
304th Sustainment Brigade (United States)
The 304th Sustainment Brigade is a sustainment brigade of the United States Army Reserve. It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base near Riverside, California....

, bringing to a end a historical deployment. http://www.usar.army.mil/arweb/newsandmedia/storiesfromthefront/Pages/20081212.aspx

Campaign Streamers

Conflict Streamer Year(s)
Iraq War Iraqi Surge 2007–2008
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