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29th
Area Support Group |
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| History | |||||||||
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| Newspaper articles | |||||||||
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(Source:
Army Logistician, November-December 1987)
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| USAREUR's
Logistics Strength By Lt Col Bruce A. Block Lieutenant Colonel Bruce A. Block commands the General Support Center Germersheim. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska, holds a master's degree in systems management from the University of Southern California, and is a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College. |
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| Webster's defines
"sinew" as a solid resilient strength, which aptly describes U.S.
Army, Europe's (USAREUR's) general support centers (GSC's). These
logistics organizations, an integral part of USAREUR's 21st Support
Command, form the "sinew" that ties together the Army's European logistics
strengths. Four general support centers -- GSC Benelux in Luxembourg and GSC Germersheim, GSC Kaiserslautern, and GSC Pirmasens in Germany -- are part of the 29th Area Support Group (ASG), headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and provide logistics support for a wide geographical area. The 29th ASG's repair program for fiscal year 1987 was a $39-million program, operating under the inspect-and-repair-only-as-necessary concept. The program provided for the repair of end items, such as combat vehicles and ground mobility equipment, and components, such as transmissions and transfers. First, let's look at the commonality among the four centers. The four general support centers share a common logistics mission; however, each center has a number of individual missions and projects that make it organizationally different. A general support center is a logistics organization with the principal mission of supply (storage, care, and preservation and minor repair of theater reserve stocks) and maintenance (USAREUR's theater immediate general support repair program), as directed by USAREUR's 200th Theater Army Materiel Management Center (TAMMC). Each center has a general support repair mission to repair materiel in support of USAREUR's readiness. Next, let's look at some of the individual missions of the centers. GSC Benelux repairs the M880 family of tactical trucks and other ground mobility equipment. The GSC's at Germersheim and Kaiserslautern repair combat and automotive vehicles as well as automotive components. GSC Pirmasens focuses totally on the full range of communications and electronics equipment. The centers also have the capability to perform intermediate general support maintenance on selected items for using units. With general support maintenance being moved to echelons above corps, this workload is expected to increase significantly. A second common part of the general support center mission is theater reserve storage. This mission includes receiving, inventorying, maintaining, exercising, and shipping reserve stocks. Since most of the materiel is stored outdoors, particularly end items, maintaining and operating the equipment is particularly important to ensure that it is operationally ready. GSC Benelux stores the full range of tank and automotive materiel and is the only center storing aircraft. GSC's Germersheim and Kaiserslautern store petroleum products, wood and paper products, repair parts, and self-service supply items as well as combat vehicles, wheeled vehicles, troop support equipment, and secondary items. GSC Pirmasens stores communications and electronics equipment, communications shelters, and meals, ready to eat (MRE's). The MRE's are stored in caves in the Pirmasens area. Each center performs other missions and is structured to provide unique logistics support capabilities for the 21st Support Command. This is where the resilient strength lies, forming the sinew that ties the 21st Support Command's logistics capability together. GSC Benelux is the only center that is contractor-operated and operates in two countries, Luxembourg and Belgium. The U.S. staff consists of the commander and 35 personnel. They act as Government contracting officer and quality assurance representatives, monitoring contractor performance for transportation, storage, and maintenance missions at all sites. GSC Benelux operates Sanem and Bettembourg, Luxembourg, facilities with a local national workforce of 700 personnel employed by the Warehouse Service Agency, an agent of the Luxembourg Government. GSC Benelux also monitors performance of a facility located in Bovigny, Belgium, and operated by the German Bundeswehr. The multinational aspect of GSC Benelux operations provides unique and unusual logistics management challenges. GSC Germersheim, staffed with approximately 1,100 personnel, manages the corps reserve storage activities located at Villmar and Kitzingen. This center was established in 1982 and was tasked to identify selected sites in V and VII Corps for pre-positioning of materiel. Two sites -- Villmar near Limburg in V Corps and Kitzingen in VII Corps -- are in operation and are being stocked with pre-positioned materiel to support the corps. A German Government contractor (part of the Federal Ministry of Economics) operates the sites and maintains the equipment under the supervision of GSC Germersheim. This allows for dispersion of stocks and includes equipment maintenance as a contractor responsibility. Up to six additional sites, three in each corps, are to be established under similar arrangements by 1990. The 8592d Civilian Support Group (CSG), under the command and control of GSC Germersheim, provides general support and backup direct support maintenance for all tactical bridging in USAREUR. This support is provided primarily by contact teams onsite and is instrumental in assisting USAREUR corps and divisional engineer units in maintaining bridging capability. The 8592d CSG also performs a theater army repair program for bridges and bridge components and operates a supply support activity providing bridging-peculiar parts. The USAREUR Bridge Park is managed by the 8592d CSG. Obsolete bridging is stocked at the Bridge Park to fill total bridging requirements. Engineer units draw and emplace the bridge sets during tactical exercises to help soldiers maintain their skills on the obsolete equipment. When the bridging is returned to the Bridge Park, CSG personnel ensure property accountability and maintain the sets. The 8592d CSG is a multifaceted maintenance unit, performing a key role in supporting USAREUR's tactical-bridge readiness. The 4506th CSG is also an important part of GSC Germersheim. This unit provides personnel to perform the supply mission and administrative support for other CSG detachments on the Germersheim installation. GSC Kaiserslautern, the largest CSG, with over 1,600 personnel, operates USAREUR's retrograde processing point for all supplies except for small arms and medical and selected automatic return items. At this location, serviceable, and in some cases unserviceable, materiel is returned to the supply system for redistribution. This is an extremely busy supply operation, receiving and shipping hundreds of items daily. The payoff from this operation is in the redistribution of materiel to fill requisitions, eliminating the need to pass requirements to the continental United States supply base. GSC Kaiserslautern also supervises the civilian support groups. The 8121st and 8910th CSG's provide supply support to GSC Kaiserslautern, This includes operating the 21st Support Command's general supply support base and the retrograde processing point. The 8593d and 8907th CSG's provide maintenance support for supplies in storage and direct general support for automotive equipment in the theater reserve stocks program. CSG's are well integrated into GSC Kaiserslautern operations and provide timely, professional support. GSC Pirmasens has a long history of communications and electronics maintenance, with a civilian workforce of over 500 personnel. Three electronics maintenance detachments, equipped with the AN/MSM105 automatic test equipment are managed by GSC Pirmasens. These detachments, each staffed with seven soldiers, are located in Hanau, Schweinfurt, and Pirmasens. Their mission is to test and repair electronic circuit boards and components. These detachments are located 3 hours (driving time) from their parent unit and present unique command and control challenges in providing support to V and VII Corps. GSC Pirmasens also manages the 8909th CSG. This unit provides the personnel resources to perform the maintenance mission. These highly skilled experts have a long tradition of repairing all electronic items from simple parts to complex components and complete systems. The general support centers are unique, highly professional logistics organizations ensuring support for the overall USAREUR logistics mission. They are staffed by highly skilled, dedicated, and loyal technicians, many of whom have spent their entire careers at a general support center. The GSC's collectively provide the sinew that forms USAREUR's logistics strength. |
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(Source: Army Logistician, November-December 1987) |
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CORPS RESERVE STORAGE AREAS GSC Germerheim was tasked with selecting sites in the V and VII Corps areas for pre-positioning of materiel. Two sites -- Villmar near Limburg (V Corps) and Kitzingen (VII Corps) -- are in operation and are being stocked with pre-positioned materiel to support the corps. A German Government contractor (part of the Federal Ministry of Economics) operates the sites and maintains the equipment under the supervision of GSC Germersheim. Up to six additional sites, three in each corps, are to be established under similar arrangements by 1990. |
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