| If you do NOT see the Table of Contents frame to the left of this page, then Click here to open 'USArmyGermany' frameset |
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2nd
Support Command |
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| VII Corps Support Command History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1969 - 1973 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: 52nd Anniversary, 1918 - 1970. The JAYHAWK Anniversary Issue, August 19, 1970.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A young command,
the VII Corps Support Command (VII COSCOM)
was formed in March 1969 as part of the 'new look' in USAREUR and
Seventh Army, designed to keep combat elements and support services
on a ready-for-action basis. Units forming the new command were: 1st, 71st, 87th and 303d Maintenance Bns, 35th and 95th Supply and Service (S&S) Bns, 4th Transportation Bn, 101st Ordnance Bn, Personnel and Administration Bn, Special Troops and the 6930th Civilian Labor Gp. The only change in the original unit alignment has been the addition of the 116th Ordnance Det, arriving in Germany Jan. 28, 1970, to provide direct rocket and missile maintenance support to units of VII Corps. Under the new command, the replacement regulating detachment at Panzer Kaserne was established and became fully operational June 26, 1969, when the first shipment of replacements for VII COSCOM and VII Corps non-divisional units was received. In order to show their combat readiness, Headquarters VII COSCOM and elements of the 35th and 95th S&S Bns, 87th and 303d Maintenance Bns, and 6930th Civilian Labor Gp participated in their first field exercise, Exercise Certain Check, Oct. 24-30, 1969. Units of VII COSCOM were instrumental in preparation of equipment for the March NATO Exercise, Arctic Express. Elements of the 35th S&S Bn, 71st, 87th and 303d Maintenance Bns provided support to the highly successful Exercise Car Crew III, which tested the Reforger concept during May and June 1970. The second field exercise that VII COSCOM participated in, Exercise Front Centre '70, took place in May. Soon after the formation of the command, units and troops throughout VII COSCOM celebrated their first German-American and German-American-French Weeks with numerous activities throughout the Jobber area. Continuing the tradition of good international relations, Headquarters VII COSCOM invited French and German military personnel and their families to the July 4th celebration this year at Panzer Kaserne. About 5,000 Americans, Germans and French took part in the day-long event. In another July event, VII COSCOM officers, including Brig. Gen. John T. Peterson, present Jobber commander, joined French officers in a 5-mile march which ended with a French and American picnic near Bebenhausen. Although only a little over a year old, the command has had many accomplishments and successes in its short span, and is continually changing to provide the best in support services to VII Corps area units. |
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| (Source: USAREUR/Seventh Army STATION LIST, 1 June 1976) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd COSCOM ORGANIZATION - 1 JUNE 1976 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| CORRECTIONS: (1) Source: Email from ... The 182nd CS Co was part of the 71st Ord Bn. In 1986, this unit was redesignated and reorganizaed as the 317th Ord Co |
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| 2nd SUPCOM History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1973 - 19.. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 2nd
Support Command DUI |
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| (Source: The Champion, July 19, 1989) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History of
2d COSCOM The 2d Corps Support Command was initially activated as the 2d Support Brigade on June 24, 1965. The Brigade was one of three support Brigades assigned to the Seventh Army Support Command. |
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| In partnership
with the 2d COSCOM, the Unterstützungskommando 5, a 1,200 soldier
German Support Command supplements the 2d COSCOM's capabilities in
the areas of POL storage and transport, ammunition, security, maintenance,
transportation, and casualty evacuation in the event of war. The 2d COSCOM is the home of the most modern logistical support provided by the most technically and tactically proficient soldiers in the world today. |
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| 155th Signal Platoon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(Source:
Email from Tom Mayo, 155th Sig Pltn, 1966-68)
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| About the 155th
Signal Platoon: In 1966 I was among the last troops to arrive in USAREUR
by ship. Nine days on the USS Rose, from Brooklyn to Bremerhaven.
Upon arrival I was assigned to the 574th Personnel
Company and took an all night train to a town called Hanau,
home of the Brothers Grimm and other fairy tales, about 20 miles outside
of Frankfurt. I was already pissed off because I had just spent the last 6 months training as a Commcenter Specialist in Signal school and was assigned to a personnel company! It took a lot of work and a threat to the I.G. to get new orders. (can you imagine a piss aunt Pfc. making demands??) Long story short and probably a willingness to get rid of me and my barking, 30 days later I was reassigned to the 155th Signal Platoon. The 155th was already a functioning unit, attached to the HHC, 2nd Support, so I don't know (or can't remember) the history. There were 3 functional components of the 30+ man plt: Radio, Maintenance, and Commcenter. The 155th was the communications arm for the 2nd Support Brigade (you have a nice page on 2nd Support) Hq'd at Hutier Kaserne (named after a Prussian General) on Lamboy Strasse, Hanau, FRG. I was a member of the Commcenter group. Our mission was to send messages from the Brigade commanders to the rest of the world and to receive and decode msgs sent to them from anywhere in the world. We used Kleindienst machinery and KD# encryption machines to send and receive up to TOP SECRET/NATO/CRYPTO msgs. In reality we were on a hub that connected us with the rest of the world through the Frankfurt Commcenter. Once, I sent a test msg to a center half way around the world and asked for a bounce back reply. It came back to me, through all the hops and hubs in 88 seconds. We thought that was pretty good. Today that would be a 'stone-age' response time. During 'war games', (this was during the Cold War) whether at Graf or where ever, we were the advance unit to set up fieldcoms for the rest of the Headquarters company. In actuality, not many officers above major would come to the field, so we had a lot of time on our hands. Since I was a 'trick chief' (shift supv) it was MY job to insure there was enough local beer for the duration of the exercise. Usually a 3/4 ton truck filled to capacity would do it. I turned 21 while on maneuvers, lying under a truck trying to get my mask on during a simulated 'gas' attack. We ran the equipment SECRET mode all the time, but occasionally we would have to break down the machines and reset them to TOP SECRET mode. If Frankfurt was about to send us a TS, they would call first so we could reset the machinery. After the msg(s) were received, decoded and safely vaulted, we'd reset to Secret. Usually only one, sometimes two members of a shift would have a TS clearance. When a TS msg was to be received, all those w/o clearance would have to leave the commcenter until the msg was processed. I remember one TS msg that required I send my entire staff into the hallway outside the commcenter was (guess its declassified by now) the vacation itinerary and route to be taken by the King of Norway to Southern Bavaria. But the event I'll never forget was the time I received a TS for the Brigade Commanding General. It was an urgent priority TS/NATO 'eyes only' msg that arrived at 3 AM one morning. I had to call the NCO of the Day, who had to wake the Officer of the Day, who had to wake the General's aide, who had to wake the General and a driver to pick the General and drive him to the Commcenter. It was winter and it must have been in the 20's. The Commcenter was underground and comfortable. The 'pick up' window was in an unheated hallway with a constant breeze. Wind chill must have put it in the teens. About 30 minutes after calling the NCO OD there was a rap on the door. As I slid the steel door window up, I could see a very cold "One Star" standing on the other side of the window bars in not much more than an over coat over his pajamas. He said in a shivering voice he was there to pick up his message. When I asked for his ID, he paled, and it wasn't from the cold. He said he'd left it home and to just give him the 'damn msg'. When I declined he offered to have his driver validate his identify. I told him (politely) that I needed a photo ID. He ordered me to call the O.D, which I did, to verify that he had called the General's aide. I thanked him and told him that Army regs required a photo ID to distribute TS msgs. He asked for my name and told me he would have my stripes. I gave him my name, thanked him and pulled the pin that allowed the steel window plate to come crashing down. When I came on duty the next evening, the msg was gone. I never heared another thing about the incident. Below are some URL's. The first one (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/hutier.htm) is a blip about Hutier Kaserne, the second (http://www.3ad.org/kasernen/area_hanau/hutier_kaserne.htm) are a few shots of Hutier that appeared on the 3AD website. The 1959 photo was more the way the front gate looked when I was there. The far right most photo in the 1998 series was the HQ for the 2nd Support Brigade cadre. The Commcenter was in the basement of that building. We lived in the building across from the MP station that you see in the large top photo. You can see only the edge of the barracks to the right. As you may know the showers were in the basement of most kasernes and the basement was just below street level. With the windows open passersby got a good look at G.I equipment. Then, some G.I.'s were just plain exhibitionists! Since we did shift work, we were on 'separate rations' and were able to take our meals at the PX or off post. While we were exempt from KP we still had to pull 'gate guard' duty. One guy from the 155 had just received orders to Fort Polk Lousiana, "TigerLand". Next stop, Southeast Asia. That night while on guard duty and to avoid going to Nam, he took a .45 cal pistol and shot himself in the arm. I believe he spent the rest of his tour, and then some, in the Mannheim Stockade. Something about destroying government property? The third URL (http://www.1armystore.com/Smart/58018811.html) is a photo of the 2nd Support Brigade patch. When I first arrived I wore the Seventh Army, "Seven Steps to Hell" patch but was issued the inverted sword patch shortly thereafter. I left Germany and the 155th in Nov. 1968. I heard from buds that in 1969 the 2nd Support was deactivated and the 155th was absorbed into the 201st Signal Co, which was attached to the 32nd Signal Bn and transferred to Frankfurt. To date I have been able to locate only 2 members of the 155, but have been unable to make contact with either as their email address are no longer valid. I met many wonderful guys whom I still think of to this day, saw much more of Europe than I thought I'd ever see (I had a car), drank more beer than I should have, and basically did the job I was trained for while awaiting my order for CONUS. As I look back, I realize it was first, good people in my life and secondly "timing". I've been blessed with both. I hope I've been able to give as good as I got. We're on this planet only a short time, we've got to make the most of it. Sincerely, Tom Mayo |
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HHD, 1st CS Bn