POMCUS
Encyclopedia
POMCUS is a military acronym for "Prepositioning Of Material Configured in Unit Sets".
The POMCUS system kept large amounts of pre-positioned equipment in West Germany
in defense of the West against the Communist threat during the Cold War
. In the event of war with the Soviets, soldiers could be flown with their take-along-with troops (TAT) gear on commercial airliners to use this pre-positioned equipment. The equipment was set up in unit configurations to aid in force building and movement to support the US Army's general defensive plan (GDP). By the late 1980s, the plan had evolved to send three divisions over in the first week of a conflict, and one division per week thereafter. Originally POMCUS sites were primarily simply guarded, fenced-in lots of pre-loaded, maintained vehicles and weapons systems ready to roll, although the precursor to POMCUS sites was a series of underground storage areas liberated from the Germans in Pirmasens
and the outlying areas Husterhoeh Kaserne
utilized to store combat-readied armor. During the late 1960s-1980s, the above-ground POMCUS facilities were updated into large aluminum-over-steel warehouses, which provided the benefits of less weathering and lower maintenance requirements for the systems stored in them, as well as providing first-line defense against EMP
radiation which could affect the electronics in both the communications systems and the recently implemented solid-state ignition systems on some vehicles.
The POMCUS system kept large amounts of pre-positioned equipment in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in defense of the West against the Communist threat during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. In the event of war with the Soviets, soldiers could be flown with their take-along-with troops (TAT) gear on commercial airliners to use this pre-positioned equipment. The equipment was set up in unit configurations to aid in force building and movement to support the US Army's general defensive plan (GDP). By the late 1980s, the plan had evolved to send three divisions over in the first week of a conflict, and one division per week thereafter. Originally POMCUS sites were primarily simply guarded, fenced-in lots of pre-loaded, maintained vehicles and weapons systems ready to roll, although the precursor to POMCUS sites was a series of underground storage areas liberated from the Germans in Pirmasens
Pirmasens
Pirmasens is a district-free city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It is famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called Pirmasens from 1818 until 1997, when it was renamed Südwestpfalz....
and the outlying areas Husterhoeh Kaserne
Husterhoeh Kaserne
Husterhoeh Kaserne was a military facility in Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Kaserne is a German loanword that means "barracks." It was a United States military base 1945–1994. Since then it is a German base, most of which has closed...
utilized to store combat-readied armor. During the late 1960s-1980s, the above-ground POMCUS facilities were updated into large aluminum-over-steel warehouses, which provided the benefits of less weathering and lower maintenance requirements for the systems stored in them, as well as providing first-line defense against EMP
EMP
EMP or Emp may refer to:Science and technology*Electromagnetic propulsion*Electromagnetic pulse, a burst of electromagnetic radiation*Electron microprobe microanalyzer, a tool for chemical composition determination...
radiation which could affect the electronics in both the communications systems and the recently implemented solid-state ignition systems on some vehicles.