16th Sustainment Brigade

The 16th Sustainment Brigade is a sustainment brigade of the United States Army based at Warner Barracks in Bamberg, Germany. It is a subordinate unit of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command of the Seventh Army.

Activated in the summer of 2007, the brigade traces its lineage to the 7th and 16th Corps Support Groups which combined to form it. As the only sustainment brigade active in US Army Europe, the brigade provides sustainment for all of the forces of US Army's commands for Europe and Africa. It saw two deployments to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as the 16th Corps Support Group. It deployed to Iraq for its first tour as a Sustainment brigade from July 2008 to October 2009.

Organization
The 16th Sustainment Brigade is directly subordinate to the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, which in turn is subordinate to the Seventh Army, United States Army Europe.

The Brigade Headquarters is located at US Army Garrison, Bamberg, and has three subordinate battalions currently supporting sustainment operations also located at Bamberg is the 16th Special Troops Battalion. The 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion is located at Grafenwöhr, Germany, and the 39th Transportation Battalion is in Kaiserlautern, Germany.

Origin
The unit was first constituted on 29 October 1965 in the Regular Army as the 16th General Support Group. It was then activated on 10 December 1965 in the Dominican Republic. The group returned to the continental United States and was subsequently inactivated on 19 September 1968 at Fort Benning, Georgia.

The group was redesignated on 16 September 1987 as the 16th Support Group and activated in Germany. Through the 1990s, the 16th CSG also participated in operations in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Kosovo. It received its distinctive unit insignia on 14 April 1988.

On 1 May 2002, the group was re-aligned to include the 181st Transportation Battalion located at Turley Barracks in Manheim, Germany, and the 485th Corps Support Battalion, located on Hutier Kaserne, to increase their combat service support capabilities. In March 2003, the 16th Corps Support Group and its battalions deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The group provided logistical support to include direct support maintenance, transportation and supply support to all units in the operation.

The group saw a second deployment to Iraq in October 2005. During this deployment, soldiers of the group executed over 1,500 sustainment convoys which provided over 250 e6USgal of fuel, 1 million cases of bottled water and 60 e6USgal of purified water to allied forces. On 19 September 2006, the group rotated out of Iraq and back to Germany, replaced by the 82nd Sustainment Brigade.

Activation
In January 2007, the lineage and honors were designated to be transferred to the 16th Sustainment Brigade. On 16 July 2007 the group was reorganized as part of an effort to reform support groups into larger, more versatile sustainment brigades. It became the 16th Sustainment Brigade and was subsequently activated at Warner Barracks in Bamberg, Germany. The 16th Corps Support Group and the 7th Corps Support Group had been deactivated and combined to form the new formation. Their subordinate units had been moved and redesignated as well. This move made the 16th Sustainment Brigade the only brigade-sized logistics unit supporting United States Army Europe. It was put under the command of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command. The move was part of an overall streamlining of the Command's logistics element, as all major logistics formations were redesigned to be modular and more efficient. The sustainment brigade not only retained all previous logistics functions and responsibilities, but also assumed additional services, like finance, medical and signal capabilities. The brigade was composed of the 16th Special Troops Battalion headquartered at Bamberg, the 391st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion at Bamberg, and the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in Grafenwoehr. It also received its shoulder sleeve insignia.

On 29 November 2007, it was announced that the 16th Sustainment Brigade would be deployed to Iraq in summer of 2008. It would be part of a force of 8,000 soldiers from US Army Europe to deploy. The brigade was just one of over 20 major units from Europe to deploy to the Middle East in 2008; most of these units came from the 21st Theater Sustainment Command and V Corps. Throughout the Spring of 2008, the unit prepared for the deployment by conducting training exercises in Germany.

In July 2008, the brigade deployed to Iraq for its first tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a sustainment brigade. Its mission in the country was to provide sustainment and force protection operations in support of Multi-National Division North with life support and logistical operations. On 22 July 2008, the brigade's soldiers underwent final preparations before departing Rammstein Air Base for northern Iraq. The brigade operated out of Contingency Operating Base Q-West, which was supported by a dozen Iraqi small businesses.

In October 2008, the brigade's leaders attended a conference at Joint Base Balad. Hosted by the 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), the conference was attended by the 1st, 7th, 16th, 55th, and 371st Sustainment Brigades, as well as the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. They discussed streamlining and coordinating sustainment throughout the region. Among the brigade's operations was a water project in the Ninewa province. The brigade operated with US Air Force and Iraqi Army engineers to repair infrastructure that brought water from the Tigris River to the entire province, including the base. The brigade has also undertaken several other support duties for units operating throughout northern Iraq.

The brigade participated in joint exercises with the 18th Military Police Brigade and other elements of the 21st Theater Support Command in Spring of 2009. The exercises involved extensive battle simulations and role play missions to test the overall effectiveness of the units.

In October 2010, the brigade served as the command and control element for Saber Strike 11, a cooperative training effort aimed at improving interoperability and preparing Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian and U.S. troops for upcoming deployments in support of the International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan.