Items placed in USASAC’s time capsule at Redstone include photos, posters and a stress ball from Resource Management. Items were cataloged before being locked into the box and placed in a display cabinet, to be opened in 2040 at the Security Assistance Command’s 75th birthday.

The Security Assistance Command turned 60 on July 19, and to commemorate the occasion the employees filled two time capsules to be opened at the 75th birthday in 2040.

One capsule is located at the original command location, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, and one at the headquarters at Redstone Arsenal.

USASAC was originally named Mutual Security Directorate of the Supply and Maintenance Command, and opened on July 19, 1965, in New Cumberland. Since then, the command has increased in size and importance, plus relocated the headquarters to Redstone Arsenal in 2009.

“Institutional memory is the bedrock of progress,” Isaac Hampton, Army Materiel Command historian, said. “A time capsule is one of the most potent tools for crystallizing this memory, ensuring that the context, challenges and innovations of today illuminate the paths of tomorrow.”

Merriam-Webster defines a time capsule as a container holding historical records or objects representative of current culture that is deposited for preservation until discovery by some future age.

Inside the capsules future employees will find historical photos, current organization charts and information on each subcommand of USASAC. There are short bios on recently retired employees who left vital marks on the command from their initiatives and leadership. There are challenge coins from the commander and others. There is even a six-foot-wide timeline of the history of foreign military sales beginning with the Revolutionary War up until 2010.

Each directorate at every location was invited to submit items for the capsules. There is a good representation of the work performed at USASAC, from slide deck of the current foreign military sales process to the most recent employee handbook.

“We’ve thrived with our innovation and ability to meet the challenges through the decades,” Mark Crumpton, secretary of the general staff, said when presenting the contents of the capsule at USASAC’s organization day at Redstone in June. “We are the ‘Army’s Face to the World’ and this capsule represents the many people who support our security assistance and FMS efforts in some way.”

From the beginning, the command has supported military operations to U.S. partners and allies. Additionally, the organization leads international peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts.

USASAC has not buried their time capsules but has placed them in one of the many display cabinets at both locations. These cabinets showcase the numerous gifts from the partner and ally countries they meet with. Locating the time capsule by future employees will be relatively easy.

“In the relentless march of time,” Hampton said, “an institutional time capsule serves as a deliberate pause, a moment of reflection captured and sealed, ensuring that the foundational spirit and the daily realities of our work are not lost to future generations.”

USASAC became a major subordinate command of AMC in 1975. The current headquarters is attached to the AMC headquarters building at Redstone.