United States Army Forces Command

United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) is the largest United States Army command and provider of expeditionary, campaign-capable land forces to combatant commanders. Headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, FORSCOM consists of more than 750,000 Active Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard soldiers. FORSCOM provides enhanced land power gaining operational depth and versatility through a mix of fully integrated Active and Reserve Component forces operating in a joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational (JIIM) environment. Its organizations are expeditionary, campaign focused, and tailorable to provide combatant commanders the required capabilities to be decisive across the range of military operations. FORSCOM was created on 1 July 1973 from the former Continental Army Command (CONARC).

Mission
Forces Command provides Army forces to the joint war fight. FORSCOM prepares U.S. Army conventional forces to provide a sustained flow of trained and ready land power to combatant commanders in defense of the nation at home and abroad.

For the Army of 2020, FORSCOM provides enhanced land power gaining operational depth and versatility through a mix of fully integrated Active and Reserve Component forces operating in a joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational environment. Organizations will be expeditionary, campaign focused, and tailorable to provide combatant commanders the required capabilities to be decisive across the range of military operations.

Overview
Using the Army Force Generation process (ARFORGEN), FORSCOM tailors the resources and training of its units to meet the specific and constantly changing requirements of combatant commanders and, when directed, of U.S. civil authorities. Those requirements range from preparing soldiers to fight on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, to providing relief to disaster victims. The command remains at the point of the effort to transform the Army into a more deployable and maneuverable lethal force. This shift to a modular force design increases the number of units available to support regional combatant commanders. It will expand the available force pool and mandate a standard set of force structures organized and equipped to be interchangeable. The capabilities of the new brigade-level formations – armor, infantry, airborne, air assault and Stryker – ensure greater flexibility and enhance FORSCOM’s ability to deploy trained and ready forces quickly.

FORSCOM has major units located at 15 installations, including the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California and the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. They present training scenarios constantly updated to reflect changing battlefield conditions and to incorporate lessons learned. Soldiers are presented with complex, cross-cultural challenges by large numbers of role players who act as combatants and foreign citizens. NTC and JRTC have urban combat landscapes and cave and tunnel complexes to simulate current and potential wartime environments.

As directed by law, and in accordance with the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, Fort McPherson, Georgia, closed and FORSCOM relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A new FORSCOM/U.S. Army Reserve Command Headquarters facility completed construction at Fort Bragg, in June 2011. Forces Command hosted an Army "Casing of Colors ceremony" on 24 June 2011 at Fort McPherson, and an "Uncasing of Colors" on 1 Aug. 2011 at Fort Bragg.

Lineage

 * U.S. Army Forces Command 1993 – present
 * U.S. Forces Command (Specified Command) 1987 – 1993
 * U.S. Army Forces Command 1973 – 1987
 * U.S. Continental Army Command (CONARC) 1955 – 1973
 * Army Field Forces 1948 – 1955
 * Army Ground Forces 1942 – 1948
 * General Headquarters/Field Forces U.S. Army 1940 – 1942

Active component
During the Cold War, Forces Command supervised a number of armies each responsible for areas of the continental United States: First Army, Fourth Army, Fifth Army, and Sixth Army, at various times. Their responsibilities varied over time, but from the 1980s to the mid-1990s covered Reserve Component training supervision.

FORSCOM also commands three Army corps: I Corps at Fort Lewis, Washington; III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas; and XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Together they include eight divisions (1st Cavalry Division, 1st Armored Division, 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Division, 7th Infantry Division, 10th Mountain Division, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne Division, three separate brigades, two armored cavalry regiments, 37 support brigades of various types, and a range of other corps combat, combat support and combat service support units.

First U.S. Army is responsible for training, mobilization and deployment support to Reserve Component units in FORSCOM. They also execute FORSCOM missions within their geographic areas of responsibility. First U.S. Army at Rock Island Army Arsenal, Ill., reports to FORSCOM. It is responsible for the training, mobilization and deployment support for reserve component units in FORSCOM. It executes missions within the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

United States Army Reserve
A major subordinate command of Forces Command is the United States Army Reserve Command (USARC), also is headquartered at Fort Bragg, N.C. It commands all Army Reserve units in the continental United States, except those assigned to Special Operations Command. FORSCOM's Army Reserve strength stands at about 179,000 soldiers.

USARC units are part of the Federal force and make their primary contribution to FORSCOM combat power in combat support and combat service support specialties, such as medical, civil affairs, transportation, maintenance and supply. Many USARC units are designated to deploy early for contingency operations worldwide.

Army National Guard
The Army National Guard provides Forces Command a balanced force of eight National Guard combat divisions, 15 brigades, and extensive combat support and combat service support units.

The current FORSCOM Army National Guard strength is approximately 351,000 soldiers. Mobilizing the Army National Guard into active federal service would bring the total strength of FORSCOM to nearly two-thirds of the Army's combat ground forces.

Subordinate units

 * I Corps
 * 7th Infantry Division
 * III Corps
 * 1st Armored Division
 * 1st Cavalry Division
 * 1st Infantry Division
 * 4th Infantry Division
 * XVIII Airborne Corps
 * 3rd Infantry Division
 * 10th Mountain Division
 * 82nd Airborne Division
 * 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
 * First United States Army
 * United States Army Reserve Command
 * Fort Irwin National Training Center
 * Joint Readiness Training Center
 * 20th CBRNE Command
 * 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command
 * Air Traffic Services Command