The United States Replacement and School Command was a training and receiving formation of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

History

It was established as part of the

Army Ground Forces The Army Ground Forces were one of the three autonomous components of the Army of the United States during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Service Forces. Throughout their existence, Army Ground Forces were the larges ...

in March 1942, after it was noted that divisions, though initially well-balanced, soon became unbalanced in combat as the infantry took casualties faster than other arms. When it started, the Replacement and School Command consisted of about 166,000 officers and men, and it reached its peak in May 1945 with 481,000 personnel. The Command operated Replacement Training Centers (RTCs), especially Infantry Replacement Training Centers (IRTCs), in an effort to train new recruits to replace combat casualties. IRTCs included

Fort McClellan Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, is a decommissioned United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million tr ...

in Alabama, Camp Roberts in California,

Camp Wheeler Camp Wheeler was a United States Army base near Macon, Georgia. The camp was a staging location for many US Army units during World War I and World War II. It was named for Joseph Wheeler, a general in the Confederate States of America's Army and ...

in Georgia, and

Camp Fannin Camp Fannin was a U.S. Army Infantry Replacement Training Center and prisoner-of-war camp located near Tyler, Texas. It was opened in May 1943 and operated for four years, before closing in 1946. It is credited with training over 200,000 U.S. sol ...

, Camp Howze, and

Fort Wolters Fort Wolters was a United States military installation four miles northeast of Mineral Wells, Texas. Originally named Camp Wolters, it was an Army camp from 1925 to 1946. During World War II, it was for a time the largest infantry replacement tr ...

in Texas. The first

commanding general The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the Replacement and School Command was

Courtney Hodges General Courtney Hicks Hodges (January 5, 1887 – January 16, 1966) was a decorated senior officer in the United States Army who commanded First U.S. Army in the Western European Campaign of World War II. Hodges was a notable "mustang" officer ...

. Other commanding generals included

Harold R. Bull Lieutenant General Harold Roe "Pink" Bull (January 6, 1893 – November 1, 1976) was a general in the United States Army and served as Assistant Chief of Staff (G-3) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) from 1943 to 19 ...

and

Harry Hazlett Harry Fouts Hazlett (April 17, 1884 – September 27, 1960) was a career officer in the U.S. Army. Prior to that he was an American football coach for the Canton Professionals-Bulldogs of the "Ohio League", which was the direct predecessor to th ...

. Initially, training programs ran for 4 weeks, culminating at 17 weeks by the wars end.

Tony Cucolo Anthony Arthur "Tony" Cucolo (born August 22, 1957) is a retired United States Army Major General. He was notable for his service as the Army's Chief of Public Affairs, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart/ Hunter Army Airfie ...

notes that the men who trained at IRTCs replaced the dead: "The men trained here knew they were going to the deadliest places on the WWII battlefield."

Shoulder sleeve insignia

The Replacement and School Command

Shoulder Sleeve Insignia A shoulder sleeve insignia (often abbreviated SSI) is an embroidered patch worn on some uniforms of the United States Army. It is used by major formations of the U.S. Army; each formation has a unique formation patch. The U.S. Army is unique amon ...

consisted of three vertical stripes of equal width of blue (on the left), yellow and scarlet (visually very similar to the flags of

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

). The

United States Army Institute of Heraldry The Institute of Heraldry, officially The Institute of Heraldry, Department of the Army, is an activity of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army solely responsible for furnishing heraldic services to President of the United ...

notes that "the three stripes are in the colors of, and refer to, the basic

combat arms Combat arms (or fighting arms in non-American parlance) are troops within national armed forces who participate in direct tactical ground combat. In general, they are units that carry or employ weapons, such as infantry, cavalry, and artillery uni ...

(infantry, cavalry/armor and artillery); they also refer to the components of the "One Army" concept:

Active Army The Regular Army of the United States succeeded the Continental Army as the country's permanent, professional land-based military force. In modern times the professional core of the United States Army continues to be called the Regular Army (oft ...

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

and

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...

." The shoulder sleeve insignia is currently worn by the

United States Army Training and Doctrine Command The United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) is a major command of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Eustis, Virginia. It is charged with overseeing training of Army forces and the development of operational doctrine. ...

In popular culture

Frederick Buechner Carl Frederick Buechner ( ; July 11, 1926 – August 15, 2022) was an American author, Presbyterianism, Presbyterian Minister (Christianity), minister, preacher, and theologian. The author of thirty-nine published books, his work encompassed d ...

's 1958 novel '' The Return of Ansel Gibbs'', a character jokes that the red was for "the blood you never shed... Blue for the ocean you never crossed. And yellow for the streak down your back."

References

{{Authority control 1942 establishments in the United States 1945 disestablishments in the United States American Theater of World War II Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945

Replacement and School Command The United States Replacement and School Command was a training and receiving formation of the United States Army during World War II. History It was established as part of the Army Ground Forces in March 1942, after it was noted that divis ...