History of CASCOM
Combat Service Support Group (CSSG) and Personnel and Logistics Support Group (PALSG) 1962-1973
The U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, had its origins in a 1950 Project VISTA study, which, among other recommendations, proposed that the Army set up a separate and independent command to formulate and test new concepts. With the establishment of the Combat Developments Group (CDG) within the Headquarters of the Office of the Chief of Army Field Forces in 1952, the Army began to evaluate the effects of scientific developments on Army doctrine, as well as evaluating development requirements for new weapons.
Ten years later, in 1962, the Army activated the 4-star U.S. Army Combat Development Command (CDC) at Fort Belvoir, Virginia with responsibilities for integrating the Army's research and development functions. In support of this mission, two subordinate organizations were created within the CDC; the Combat Service Support Group (CSSG) at Fort Lee, Virginia, and the Combined Arms Support Group at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. For the first time, the Army began to integrate the development of tactics, doctrine, and organization with the materiel designed to support them.
In further support of this reform, separate branch agencies were organized for each of the technical services (Quartermaster, Ordnance, Transportation, Adjutant General, Chaplain, Civil Affairs, Medical Service, and Military Police) and they operated as tenants at bases where their respective schools were located. Each one had responsibility for combat development and doctrine for their respective branch. Additionally, within each branch school, separate departments of combat development and doctrinal expertise existed. The Judge Advocate General and Finance Schools were added in 1964, and Civil Affairs was transferred to the Combat Arms Group.
In a 1966 reorganization, the CSSG at Fort Lee assumed responsibility for developing all support elements for the Army in the field. Five CSSG directorates were combined into three: Personnel and Administration; Program and Budget; and Doctrine, Organization, Materiel and Evaluation. The Finance and Adjutant General agencies remained collocated at Fort Benjamin Harrison, IN, with their respective schools and they combined to form the Personnel and Administrative Services Agency, while the Quartermaster and Ordnance Agencies were re-designated the Supply and Maintenance Agencies, respectively. In 1969, the MP agency was transferred to the Combat Support Group. CSSG became the Personnel and Logistics Systems Group (PALSG) in 1971, with few essential changes.
The Logistics Center (LOGC) 1973-1990
With the creation of the 4-star U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) -- a new major Army command -- in March 1973, the 4-star Combat Developments Command was disestablished and its subordinate organizations were reorganized. Within TRADOC, three lower level, 2-star major subordinate 'integrating centers' were created: the Logistics Center (which replaced the PALSG at Fort Lee), the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, and the Administrative Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison, IN. Materiel development became a cooperative effort with TRADOC as primary combat developer and the Army Materiel Command (AMC) as the primary materiel developer.
The Logistics Center assumed responsibility for the development, testing, integration, and dissemination for logistics concepts, doctrine and systems, the design of management systems, the control of management characteristics (as they affected logistical support), the organization of logistics units, the career development of logistics personnel, and the conduct of exercises and command post exercises. Training exercises, such as the Logistics Exercise (LOGEX) would continue to be a major activity at the LOGC over the next two decades. Additionally, in 1975, TRADOC instructed the Logistics Center to establish a mission capability in force restructuring, the importance of which has continued to the present.
In 1983, TRADOC designated the LOGC commander as the TRADOC Deputy Commanding General for Logistics, with the upgrading of the billet to a 3-star rank. With this increased authority, Lieutenant General Robert Bergquist set out to enhance the position of Combat Service Support with TRADOC by promoting the concept of multifunctionalism. This concept became a key part of the new doctrine developed by TRADOC, known as AirLand Battle, and multifunctionalism became an enduring concept of Army sustainment. LOGC began the process by creating Forward Support Battalions which ended the ad hoc practice of assigning forward area support coordinators (FASCOS) to brigade combat teams. The success of this initiative led to the subsequent redesign of logistics support commands and units at the division and echelons-above-division level.
In the mid-1980s, the technical service chiefs were 'brought back' in the interest of improved branch direction and 'esprit de corps' within each of the branches. With this re-establishment, each of the chiefs (ex. Quartermaster General, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Transportation) became the commander of their respective schools and the lead proponent for their branch within the Army. Initially, subordinate to TRADOC, by the early-mid 1990s, these branch chiefs/school commandants would fall under the authority of LOGC and, subsequently, the Combined Arms Support Command.
Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) 1990-Present
In 1990, the 'integration center' structure was terminated with the creation of two new subordinate 'umbrella' commands within TRADOC. The Logistics Center at Fort Lee and the Soldier Support Institute (a subordinate organization under the Soldier Support Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison) merged to form the new Combined Arms Support Command on 2 October 1990. The Combined Arms Command (CAC) at Fort Leavenworth replaced the Combined Arms Center. Subsequently. the Soldier Support Center was disestablished and the Soldier Support Institute moved to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, following closure of Fort Benjamin Harrison due to the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) legislature.
Following Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1991, the relationship between CASCOM and the Army Materiel Command became increasingly important as the Army strove to improve supply chain performance. Some CASCOM commanders went on to become commanders at AMC. In the early 1990s, multifunctional training for Army Captains was advanced by the creation of the Combined Logistics Officers Advanced Course (CLOAC) at the Army's Logistics Management College (ALMC) at Fort Lee, which included company command multifunctional leadership and staff training. The Logistics Captains Career Course at Army Sustainment University is the enduring evolution of this effort.
On 10 October 1994, CASCOM was reorganized. The combat developments, doctrinal concepts, proponency, evaluation and standardization, and training developments functions at the Quartermaster, Ordnance and Transportation branch schools were centralized at CASCOM headquarters. The branch schools were now focused on branch-specific instruction. In addition, CASCOM headquarters was realigned, with three deputy commanding generals (dual-hatted branch chiefs) with responsibility for Combat Developments, Training Development, and Automation.
Due to the 1998 BRAC decision, the Women's Army Corps Museum at Fort McClellan, Alabama closed and moved to its new location as the newly-rebranded Army Women's Museum in a much expanded facility in May 2001. The director of this new museum was the Army's first female branch museum director. It joined the Quartermaster Museum which had been operating at Fort Lee since 1954.
By 2004, CASCOM's horizons had been expanded to include Joint, Interagency, and Multifunctional (JIM) concepts. The scope of the Functional Area (FA) 90 (Multifunctional Logistician) program was expanded and strengthened. The FA90 field will continue to grow and, in 2009, became the Logistics Branch.
The 2005 BRAC legislation brought significant change to CASCOM. A key part of 2005 BRAC was the consolidation of Army sustainment training at Fort Lee. The Ordnance Mechanical Maintenance School (OMMS) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, and the Ordnance Munitions and Electronic Maintenance School (OMEMS) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, were relocated to Fort Lee, along with the movement of the Army Transportation School from Fort Eustis, Virginia. The Solider Support Institute, with the Finance School and Adjutant General School, remained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. As part of this movement, the Ordnance Museum was reorganized as the Ordnance Training Support Facility (OD TSF).
Subsequent to BRAC and the establishment of TRADOC's Center of Excellence model, the Sustainment Center of Excellence (SCoE) was established at CASCOM to oversee and coordinate the functions of the five sustainment branches: Ordnance, Quartermaster, Transportation, Finance, and Adjutant General. The CASCOM commander is dual-hatted as the commander of SCoE. As part of the creation of the SCoE, the Army Logistics Management College (ALMC) became the Army Logistics University (ALU) where professional development training takes place for logistics officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, and civilians. 11 September 2011 signaled the end of the 2005 BRAC process.
In July 2021, the CASCOM commander was tasked to support Operation Allies Refuge (OAR) with a goal of helping Afghan evacuees transition to a new life in the United States at the conclusion of the war in Afghanistan. Installation leaders assembled a group called “Task Force Eagle,” which spent the next four months supporting OAR. The Department of Defense, through U.S. Northern Command, and in support of the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security, provided transportation, temporary housing, medical screening, and general support for Afghan evacuees at military facilities across the country.
The CASCOM commander, on 27 April 2023, redesignated Fort Lee as Fort Gregg-Adams after two African American officers, Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. The name change was recommended by the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense as part of the renaming of military assets which were associated with the Confederate States of America. The naming of Fort Gregg-Adams is notable as it is the first time since 1900 where a fort has been named after a living service member.
