Fort Jackson will be home to one of four new Regional Readiness Sustainment Commands, continuing a transformation plan announced last year by the U.S. Army Reserve Command.
The 81st Regional Readiness Sustainment Command will support a geographical area that includes Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
As the four new organizations stand up, they will replace the 10 Regional Readiness Command headquarters currently providing base support to Army Reserve units in their respective regions across the country.
"As part of the transformation, units will be more operationally functional," said Maj. William Ritter, a spokesman for the 81st RRSC. "Plus it will give units better facilities for training."
The change is also expected to provide better predictability for Soldiers on when they will be deployed, Ritter said, through a new five-year cycle called Army Force Generation.
"After a five-year cycle they will be open for deployment," Ritter said. "Before, a lot of units were being cross-leveled. It was like a melting pot of units. The five-year cycle will give better predictability for families, Soldiers and employers."
The current Regional Readiness Commands will stand down in phases by 2009 as the new support commands become fully operational, and new smaller commands will establish in place of many of the RRCs.
The other three RRSCs are the 63rd at Moffett Field, Calif., 88th at Fort McCoy, Wis., and 99th at Fort Dix, N.J.
The 63rd RRSC will support a geographical area that includes California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Its projected Initial Operational Capability is not later than the fourth quarter of 2007.
The 88th RRSC, with a projected IOC of no later than the fourth quarter of 2007, will include the geographical area of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.
The 99th RRSC will be responsible for an area that includes Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine. Projected IOC is no later than the second quarter of 2007.
"The result of this reshaping will be a more streamlined command and control structure and an increase in ready, deployable assets: An operational force to support the global War on Terrorism," Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, chief of Army Reserve, said when the announcement was made.
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