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29th Area Support Group
21st Support Command
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History 

RSA Kaiserslautern

RSA Germersheim

RSA Luxembourg

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History
Theater War Reserve Storage
1979
(Source: GAO Audit Report #94-046, February 25, 1994)
During the mid-1970's, Headquarters U.S. Army, Europe, and Seventh Army (USAREUR). had a critical shortage of storage capacity in Europe for pre-positioned war reserve material. Although 10 million square feet of storage was required, only 2 million square feet was available. To acquire additional facilities, the Army, in consonance with congressional guidance to seek increased host nation support, advised the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies of the need for additional storage capability and requested their assistance. Luxembourg was one of the first countries to offer assistance, and in December 1978, the President of Luxembourg and the United tates Ambassador to Luxembourg formalized, in a memorandum of understanding, an agreement for the use of two storage sites in Luxembourg.

The two Luxembourg storage sites designated for use by USAREUR are Bettembourg/Dudelange, which became operational in September 1979, and Sanem, which became operational in September 1984. The mission of the sites was to receive, store, maintain in a ready posture, and issue peacetime operating stocks and pre-positioned theater war reserve maerial. War reserve material is required to be available during peacetime to meet increased military needs upon the outbreak of war. Pre-positioned theater war reserves are intended to provide essential support to sustain operations during the early stages of a crisis or contingency until resupply capabilities cart be established.

On behalf of the government of Luxembourg, the National Credit and Investment Company founded the Warehouses Service Agency (WSA) to build, finance, and manage the storage sites for the Army. WSA was chartered as a corporation on January 15, 1979, with a capital of 40 million Luxembourg francs, 75-percent ownership resting with the government of Luxembourg, and the remaining 25 percent ownership resting with Arbed Steel Corporation. (Arbed Steel Corporation is one of the largest steel mill and manufacturing corporations in Europe.)
1981
(Source: ARMY LOGISTICIAN, Nov-Dec 1981)

Reserve Storage Activities
 

RSA Luxembourg (ALOG)
 

RSA Sanem (ALOG)
1987
(Source: ARMY LOGISTICIAN, Sep-Oct 1987)

War Reserve Storage in Luxembourg
 
 
 
(Source: ARMY LOGISTICIAN, Nov-Dec 1987)
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.

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.
(Source: ARMY LOGISTICIAN, Nov-Dec 1987)
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.

Villmar




1. Former V Corps Reserve storage site at Villmar (93 KB)





 
Reserve Storage Activity, Kaiserlsautern

Reserve Storage Activity, Kaiserslautern, late 1980s
RSAK is the largest and most diverse reserve storage activity of the 29th ASG
 
1989
(Source: QUARTERMASTER Professional Bulletin, Autumn 1989)
Sustainment of Theater Army Operations

by Maj Robert W. Grissom & Dr. Powell W. Owens
Maj Robert W. Grissom was the former commander of RSA Kaiserslautern and, at the time that the article appeared in the magazine, was chief of DSPO, 29th ASH.
Dr. Opowell W. Owens was, at the time of the articvle, Dpty Commander of RSAK.

The most important mission of the U.S. Army in Europe (USAREUR) is to deter war. USAREUR, with other services and our allies, achieves this mission by projecting to numerically superior Warsaw Pact forces the capability to conduct and sustain combat. During peacetime and transition to war, the reserve storage activity (RSA) has direct responsibility for materiel operations at the Theater Army Area Command (TAACOM) level. The Reserve Storage Activity Kaiserslautern (RSAK) is the largest and most diverse RSA in the 29th Area Support Group (ASG), the largest ASG in the 21st TAACOM.

In peacetime, RSAK's mission is to receive, store, and issue operating stocks for the 200th Theater Army Materiel Management Center (TAMMC). In wartime, the RSAK also receives, stores, maintains, and issues decrement stocks (the difference between a unit's required and authorized equipment stored in war reserve), operational project stocks, and pre-positioned war reserve materiel stocks.

RSAK also is responsible for 21st TAACOM's storage of forward pre-positioned war reserve materiel, retrograde operations of USAREUR excess materiel and automatic return items, and a break bulk point for 180 customers in the Kaiserslautern, Pirmasens, Zweibruecken, and Baumholder area.

The RSAK is a diverse and multifunctional organization of more than 800 individuals consisting of local nationals, Department of the Army civilians, and six soldiers. The austere command section consists of one officer, one civilian deputy, one noncommissioned officer in charge, and one secretary. The next higher headquarters, the General Support Center Kaiserslautern, provides staff support. The operational elements of RSAK include these four divisions: Materiel Management Division, Storage Division, Care and Preservation Division, and Transportation Division.

The Materiel Management Division provides centralized control of all supply transactions and maintains custodial records and the inventory program for 200th TAMMC-managed stocks at RSAK. These stocks include more than 10,000 line hems valued at approximately $1.7 billion. The Materiel Management Division processes approximately 385,000 shipment and receipt transactions per year.

The Storage Division receives. stores and issues peacetime operating stocks, decrement stocks, operational project stocks and pre-positioned war reserve materiel stocks (more than 10.000 lines) as directed by the 200th TAMMC. It also operates the USAREUR Retrograde Processing Point which processes field returns and automatic return items. The Storage Division provides work places for 300 personnel in the areas of receiving and shipping major items, warehousing, and storage planning. Its operational space includes 41 warehouses equaling more than 800,000 square feet of covered storage space and almost 3 million square feet of open storage space. The Storage Division physically handles the materiel represented by the nearly 385,000 receipts and shipments managed by the Materiel Management Division.

The Care and Preservation Division maintains theater reserve stocks. Maintenance requirements depend on periodic serviceability inspections, shipments in-theater and to CONUS, periodic operation of major items and secondary items, preservation of items returned to theater reserve stock from general support maintenance activities, and preservation of all field returns -- even il unserviceable or repairable. The workload includes more than 11,500 individual items in The Army Maintenance Management System (TAMMS) ranging from.5-kilowatt generators to wheeled and tracked vehicles. Maintenance requirements on TAMMS items range from clothing and textiles to sets, kits, and outfits.

This tremendous workload is accomplished by more than 300 people backed up by 60 people in the 8593rd Civilian Support Group (CSG) (Direct Support/General Support Maintenance). The 8593th CSG primarily performs maintenance on trucks, construction equipment, and bridging boats.

The Transportation Division's primary mission is to request air, ground (truck and rail), and sea assets to support shipping materiel in-theater and to CONUS. This mission requires constant coordination and follow-up with U.S. Air Force and Army transportation units, terminal authorities, and the German Federal Rall System.

In addition, the Transportation Division operates Break Bulk Point Kaiserslautern, servicing approximately 180 dispersed customers by distributing CONUS-originated cargo. Further, it operates the USAREUR REFORGER CONEX (container express) pool to maintain accountability for the CONEXes. Finally, the Transportation Division provides military customs inspection services, ensuring that all cargo for shipment to CONUS is free of contraband and agricultural pests.

The 8910th CSG (Supply, General Support) operates the 21st TAACOM storage site for forward positioned pre-positioned war reserve stocks under the operational control of RSAK. Its primary mission is receipt, inspection, and storage of air lines of communication (ALOC) Class IX materiel. Issues against the 7,000-line authorized slockage list are based on high-priority requisitions. The 8910th CSG participates in the Intra-Theater Air Delivery System that provides delivery of high-priority parts and equipment throughout Europe, and operates round-the-clock, seven days a week. It also provides direct supply support for a variety of U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercises.

The 8121st CSG (Supply, General Support) is integrated throughout all divisions of RSAK to provide a highly desirable level of continuity in wartime. Its local national supervisor is responsible for depot-level operations in wartime.

RSAK is one of five comprehensive logistical activities providing supply, maintenance, and transportation coordination capabilities to the 29th ASG. RSAK offers its commander a unique opportunity and great challenge to hone logistical skills. More importantly, RSAK plays a key role in sustaining theater operations in USAREUR.
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