GRAFENWOEHR, Germany -- A familiar name has returned to the U.S. Army in Europe.
This month marks the return of the Joint Multinational Training Command back to its original designation as the 7th Army Training Command, or 7ATC.
"We made the change for two reasons," said Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Sweezer, 7ATC senior enlisted advisor.
The first was to avoid confusion, said Sweezer. When the command was renamed the Joint Multinational Training Command in 2004, its subordinate directorates adopted similar names (the Joint Multinational Simulation Center and Joint Multinational Readiness Center). This resulted in confusion amongst both senior Army leaders to how the command was structured and units seeking training resources in Europe.
"The power of 7ATC is its unified structure," said Sweezer. "Because the 7ATC commander is in charge of all training resources in Europe, we can easily tailor training to meet any unit's training objectives. We think the name change will help clarify to units how we are structured and how best we can help them achieve their needs."
The second reason was historical, said Sweezer.
"7th Army has a special meaning for generations of Soldiers who have trained here with us," said Sweezer.
7th Army has a long and distinguished history in the U.S. Army. It was the name of the first field army to see combat during World War II, and liberated large areas of Italy and France. 7th Army was inactivated at the end of the war, but in 1950 it was reactivated and returned to Europe, where it was given the command and control responsibility for all U.S. Army forces on the continent, and where it eventually evolved in to U.S. Army Europe.
That same year, the Army activated the 7th Army Tank Training Center is Vilseck, Germany. Further additions to the training center, as well as a reorganization and consolidation of all Army training resources in Europe led to the establishment of the 7th Army Training Command in 1976.
7ATC was renamed the Joint Multinational Training Command in 2004 to reflect its increased role in training U.S. joint service, Allied and partners alongside U.S. Army forces.
"That joint, multinational training mission is still an important part of what we do every day at 7ATC," said Sweezer. "That's why we retained the 'joint' and 'multinational' in the names of our simulation and combat maneuver centers."
"But our primary mission is training Title X U.S. Army forces, and we think that changing our name back to 7ATC better reflects that aspect of who we are as an organization."
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