The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the

U.S. 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, cl ...

. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

branches, the others being the

Quartermaster Corps Following is a list of Quartermaster Corps, military units, active and defunct, with logistics duties: * Egyptian Army Quartermaster Corps - see Structure of the Egyptian Army * Hellenic Army Quartermaster Corps (''Σώμα Φροντιστών ...

and the Ordnance Corps. The Corps was established in its current form on 31 July 1942, with predecessor services dating back to the American Civil War. Currently headquartered at

Fort Lee, Virginia Fort Lee, in Prince George County, Virginia, United States, is a United States Army post and headquarters of the United States Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM)/ Sustainment Center of Excellence (SCoE), the U.S. Army Quartermaster Sc ...

, it is the second-largest branch of the Army.USATCFE Overview
The officer in charge of the branch for doctrine, training, and professional development purposes is the Chief of Transportation (COT), a position currently held by Brigadier General James M. Smith. The Corps's motto is "Nothing Happens Until Something Moves" (https://transportation.army.mil/).

History

Early history

Civil War

During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, transportation proved to be an integral part of military logistics through the organization of railroads as a viable and efficient means of military transportation. The US Army centralized the management of rail into the

United States Military Railroad The U.S. Military Railroad (USMRR) was established by the United States War Department as a separate agency to operate any rail lines seized by the government during the American Civil War. An Act of Congress of 31 January 1862 authorized Presi ...

(USMRR). The Army Quartermaster purchased eight

City-class ironclad The Pook Turtles, or City-class gunboats to use their semi-official name, were war vessels intended for service on the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. They were also sometimes referred to as "Eads gunboats." The labels are ap ...

s on the Mississippi River in February 1862, a full month before the ''USS Monitor'' and ''CSS Virginia'' set sail. City Point, Virginia in 1864 would become the largest port operation in the Western Hemisphere in 1864. By 1864, five of the nine divisions in the

Quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...

Department dealt exclusively with transportation. The

Army Transport Service The United States Army Transport Service (ATS) was established as a sea-going transport service that was independent of the Navy Department. ATS operated army transport ships for both troop transport and cargo service between United States ports ...

was one of the divisions that was responsible for land and water transport. A substantial number of battles were won because of the field commander's ability to swiftly and effectively move troops and supplies. Most wounded soldiers were carried away in a banana-shaped cart called a gondola.

Spanish–American War

During the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

, the task of mobilizing and deploying a largely volunteer force to Cuba and the Philippines magnified the need for a separate transportation service within the Quartermaster Department. Army transporters worked with both the civilian railroads and the maritime industry to pull together a successful intermodal operation.

World War I

The American Expeditionary Force that deployed to France during World War I emphasized the need for a single transportation manager. William W. Atterbury, a former railroad executive, was commissioned as a brigadier general and appointed as the Director-General of Transportation and a separate Motor Transport Corps (United States Army) (World War One), Motor Transport Corps of the National Army was established to manage trucks on 15 August 1918. Th
United States Army School for Truck Drivers
had been established by 9 July 1918; and the Transportation Corps of the AEF was abolished after the war, The M.T.C. subsequently conducted Transcontinental Motor Convoys in 1919 and 1920.

World War II

On 9 March 1942 the Transportation Service was established as part of the Services of Supply. In March 1942, the transportation functions were consolidated into the Transportation Division of the newly created Services of Supply. On 31 July 1942, the Transportation Service became the Transportation Corps. By the end of the war the Transportation Corps had moved more than 30 million soldiers within the continental United States; and 7 million soldiers plus 126 million tons of supplies overseas. From the beginning in England in late May 1942, the Transportation Corps operations in the ETO were directed by Major General Frank S. Ross who had been selected by Maj. Gen. John C. H. Lee, Commanding General, Services of Supply (after the D-Day Invasion called the Communications Zone, or Com-Z), European Theater of Operations. One of the greatest feats of the Transportation Corps, via the Military Railway Service (United States), Military Railway Service, was the rebuilding of France's shattered railroad network after D-Day and the transportation of 1,500 locomotives and 20,000 railroad car, railway cars specially built for the lighter French track system starting With D-Day +38. To speed the process, and avoid delays caused by French channel ports and docks destroyed by the retreating Germans, the Transportation Corps brought the heavy railroad stock across the channel and across the beaches in specially built Landing Ship, Tank, LSTs. As allied forces rapidly advanced across France in the summer of 1944, a special transportation operation nicknamed the Red Ball Express was carried out. The Red Ball Express provided around the clock truck convoys from allied held ports to supply troops on the front in a giant, one-way loop. There were other lesser known truck-route express operations: the Green Diamond Express operated out of Cherbourg due south, to serve the forces advancing on Brittany and Brest. Later the White Ball Highway Express operated out of Le Havre to the same depots served by the Red Ball. Later still, the A B C Highway moved men and supplies from the Belgian port of Antwerp to the front. The story of the Red Ball Express was told in the 1950s movie Red Ball Express (film), ''Red Ball Express''. There was a short lived television series in the early 1970s named ''Roll Out'' which focused on the experiences of a fictional African American motor transportation unit involved with the Red Ball Express.

Cold War

The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union extended from 1945 into 1991, spanning the Gulf War. When the Soviet Union cordoned off the city of Berlin in 1948, the Transportation Corps played a vital role in sustaining the city. Two years later, on 28 June 1950, President Harry S. Truman established the Transportation Corps as a permanent branch of the Army.

Korean War

During the Korean War, the Transportation Corps kept the UN Forces supplied through three winters. By the time the armistice was signed, the Transportation Corps had moved more than 3 million soldiers and 7 million tons of cargo.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War saw the most diversified assortment of transportation units ever assembled. For over a decade the Transportation Corps provided continuous support for American and allied forces through an unimproved tropical environment using watercraft, amphibians, motor trucks and Transportation Corps aircraft. The enemy threat to convoys required a unique solution - gun trucks. On 31 July 1986, the Transportation Corps was inducted into the U.S. Army Regimental System.

Gulf War

In 1990 the Transportation Corps faced one of its greatest challenges with the onset of the Gulf War. During Operation Desert Shield (Gulf War), Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, the Transportation Corps working out of ports on three continents demonstrating its ability to deploy and sustain massive forces.

Post Cold War

Operations in Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia, and Iraq have also seen the deployment of large numbers of transportation units.

Operation Enduring Freedom

When the coalition forces invaded Afghanistan, the Transportation Corps opened up the air line of communication into the country and until 2008, a single movement control battalion managed all logistics in Regional Command-East. As the number of brigade combat teams increased in Afghanistan in 2006, the Transportation Corps began ground convoy operations.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

The 143rd Transportation Command opened the port and supported the push to Baghdad in March 2003. After Baghdad fell in April, the maneuver operation matured into a sustainment operation with a hub and spoke supply line. Once the enemy began attacking convoys, the truck drivers responded with an age old solution of hardening trucks with steel and adding machine guns thus making gun trucks and convoy security a permanent part of Transportation doctrine. No matter how great the threat, the Transportation Corps delivered the goods. During Operation New Dawn, the Transportation Corps was responsible for retrograding all the equipment out of Iraq by the December 2012 deadline.

Bases of operations

When it was established in 1942, it was based at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Headquarters were moved to Fort Lee starting in 2010. At the time, only seven Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) courses were being taught at the new Fort Lee Transportation School. For example, Cargo Specialist (MOS 88H), Watercraft Operator (MOS 88K) and Watercraft Engineer (MOS 88L) training remained at Fort Eustis, which is the main housing of the Army's Watercraft. Railway training for Army Reserve soldiers (MOSs 88P, 88T, and 88U) and Army civilian employees also remained at Fort Eustis, as there are only warehouse tracks and no railway system available for training at Fort Lee. Motor Transportation Operator (truck driver, MOS 88M) training is conducted at Fort Leonard Wood (military base), Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Transportation battalions

References

External links

Destination Berlin: The Transportation Corps
(World War II history booklet) *
70 Years of the Transportation Corps
Richard E. Killblane
The Institute of Heraldry: 385th Transportation BattalionThe Transportation Corps