by 21st Theater Sustainment Command January 12, 2024
U.S., Dutch, U.K., Italian, Romanian, Polish, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, French and German Soldiers participate in static line and free fall jumps as a part of the Market Garden 79-year anniversary within Falcon Leap 23 in Ginkelse Heide, Netherlands, Sep. 16, 2023. FALE23 is a Royal Dutch military-led, multinational, joint technical airborne exercise designed to enhance interoperability of participating NATO airborne forces and aircrews in personnel and equipment parachuting operations in Arnhem, Netherlands, from Sep. 2-17, 2023. Falcon Leap is NATO’s largest technical airborne exercise which also includes ceremonies commemorating the 79th anniversary of Operation Market Garden. Photo by Spc. Samuel Signor
U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s lead organization for all sustainment activities, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, made history and marked many “firsts” in 2023. Team 21 conducted operations in ports in Aarhus, Denmark, and Setubol, Portugal, for the first time, expanding the U.S. Army’s power force projection in the European Theater.
The command made history with the reactivation of the 95th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion and 7th Engineer Brigade. In June 2023, 21st TSC bid farewell to Maj. Gen. James Smith and welcomed Brig. Gen. Ronald Ragin as the new commanding general.
Soldiers from the 16th Sustainment Brigade assigned to the 260th Movement Control Team scan military vehicles during the transport, offload, and processing of over 1,250 equipment items assigned to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Calvary Division, at the port of Vlissingen, Netherlands, on January 10, 2023. Once a vehicle gets offloaded from the ship, Soldiers from the 260th MCT use a Distributional Retrograde Adaptive Planning and Execution Management or DRAM tablet to scan the military shipping labels on these vehicles. Doing this will ensure that they know all the information relating to the vehicle, and then they can ensure that it gets on the correct truck, barge, or train so it can get to the final location in Europe. U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Yeadon
This summer, 21st TSC sent a contingent, led by Brig. Gen. Ragin, to the Army Current Operations Engagement Tour in Washington D.C. to bring Team 21 expertise and perspective to national security issues, operational strategies, and the role of the Army in safeguarding our nation’s interests.
The list of engagements, exercises and successful missions Team 21 planned and completed with allies, partners and host nations, including the large scale global exercise, DEFENDER 23 numbers in the thousands. Here are just a few snapshots of 21st TSC’s 2023 Year in Review.
A U.S. Army Soldier belonging to 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, guides an M88A Recovery Vehicle off the vessel to be logged into a system at a checkpoint at the port of Esbjerg, Denmark, Aug. 24, 2023. Photo by Spc. Samuel Signor
Soldiers from 902 Engineer Construction Company, 15th Engineer Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade tear down the framework after pouring concrete at the Pre-Engineered Building construction site in support of Operation Resolute Castle at Presidential Range, Poland, Sept. 21. Resolute Castle 23 is a multi-national exercise that increases partner capacity and strengthens capabilities across NATO through real world engineer related training which enhances NATO’s ability to project combat power throughout Europe.
Participants at the Spring Resiliency Event work together to flip a tire during the third activity at Pulaski Park, Kaiserslautern, April 22, 2023.Photo by Spc. Samuel Signor
Bundeswehr medics, along with U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Kevin McMahon and Sgt. Mary Lapp, assigned to the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, participated in a medical evacuation training scenario for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at Luftwaffen Kaserne in Koln-Wahn, on Oct. 23, 2023. The Bundeswehr Homeland Defence Command hosted the demonstration, which included multiple German military and civilian agencies, as well as U.S. Soldiers from the 21st TSC. This visit highlighted the major efforts that the host nation performs as well as sustainment efforts in support of Allied Forces flowing through Germany to NATO countries in the east for combat operations. In addition to its homeland security tasks, the Bundeswehr Homeland Defence Command also acts as the command authority responsible for the reception, staging, onward movement, and integration of forces.
(Right) U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Ronald R. Ragin, incoming commanding general of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, speaks at the 21st Theater Sustainment Command change of command ceremony held at Daenner Kaserne, Kaiserslautern, June 7, 2023. The change of command was held to say farewell to Maj. Gen. James M. Smith as he relinquishes command of the 21st TSC to Ragin. Photo by Spc. Samuel Signor
(From left to right) U.S. Army 1st Lt. Katlyn Winnecke, 1st Lt. Shawna Mumma, and 1st Lt. Emily Booker, pose for a photo at the Expert Field Medical Badge Warrior Skills lane, Nov. 8, 2023, on Vilseck, Germany. All three Soldiers participated in the U.S. Army Europe Expert Infantryman, Expert Soldier and Expert Field Medical Badges, also known as E3B, at Vilseck, Germany, Nov. 8, 2023. The E3B is designed to test candidates’ physical and mental abilities to increase unit readiness while executing critical individual and technical tasks while maintaining the integrity and history of each badge. The Expert Infantryman Badge was created in 1944 to honor the U.S. Army Infantryman and serve as a symbol of their role in combat and proficiency in the Infantry arts. The Expert Field Medical Badge was established in 1965 for all officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel in the Army Medical Department Corps as a method to show their high level of proficiency on the battlefield. The Expert Soldier Badge was established in 2019 on the Army’s 244th Birthday to highlight lethality and preparedness outside the Infantry, Special Operations and Medical branches. All three of these badges are highly competitive, and only a select few meet every challenge and earn the right to wear the badge. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Yeadon).
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