Ceremony officially welcomes ATSC to CAC-T

FORT EUSTIS, Va. (May 7, 2009) -- The U.S. Army Training Support Center was officially reassigned to the Combined Arms Center-Training in a reflagging and patch changing ceremony April 30 at the Fort Eustis Club.

Col. Paul Funk II, the CAC-T deputy commander, addressed about 250 military, civilian and contract personnel of ATSC who had gathered for the special event.

Funk opened his comments by declaring, "I am an American Soldier," and that he was a product of the hard work and dedication put forth by the men and women of both ATSC and CAC. He then thanked everyone in attendance for their unwavering and untiring support to the Army and its Soldiers.

Funk went on to say that in order for our great Army to remain the greatest in the world we need to continue to "provide superior training products and to make significant contributions to our Army's overall training mission."

He also explained that the realignment is designed to bridge the gap "between the two entities dedicated to better development of training products through a coordinated unity of effort."

The joining of CAC and ATSC creates a team that together will provide a "training development and support strategy for an expeditionary Army," Funk said. He also emphasized that the two organizations are not in competition, but rather "we are a team bringing together our ideas, strategies, concepts and unique abilities for the betterment of our troops; with the support of ATSC, CAC-T and TRADOC, our team will make our Army better."

The Army Training Support Center was established July 1, 1976 as a field operating activity at Fort Eustis. It is the cornerstone of the Army's training support management structure. Its mission is to plan, integrate, implement and sustain many of the training support programs, products, services and facilities that support training across all domains, operational, institutional and self-development, Training and Doctrine Command core missions and the Army. At its inception, ATSC employed approximately 75 personnel and was the former training support activity that managed television and motion picture programs, inhouse development and production of training devices, and computerized training support. The activities added in July 1976 included the Armywide Doctrinal and Training Literature Program, the Training Extension Course Program, the Individual Training Evaluation Program, the Army Correspondence Course Program, engagement simulation and training device requirements.

Today, ATSC employs about 300 military, civilian and contract personnel who are critical to ensuring Soldiers have the essential training support products and services they need. These products and services enable the training necessary to develop agile, adaptive warriors, comfortable with uncertainty, and able to operate in an expeditionary environment.