The 16th Sustainment Brigade is a sustainment brigade of the United States Army based at Smith Barracks in Baumholder, Germany. It is a subordinate unit of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command of the Seventh Army.
Activated in the summer of 2007, the brigade traces its lineage to the 7th and 16th Corps Support Groups which combined to form it. As the only sustainment brigade active in US Army Europe, the brigade provides sustainment for all of the forces of US Army's commands for Europe and Africa. It saw two deployments to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as the 16th Corps Support Group. It deployed to Iraq for its first tour as a Sustainment brigade from July 2008 to October 2009.
Organization 2023
The headquarters of the 16th Sustainment Brigade is located in Baumholder and the brigade is subordinate to 21st Theater Sustainment Command, which in turn is subordinate to the United States Army Europe and Africa.
As of May 2023 brigade consists of the following units:
16th Sustainment Brigade, in Baumholder (Germany) 16th Sustainment Brigade Special Troops Battalion, in Baumholder (Germany) 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, in Grafenwöhr (Germany) 39th Movement Control Battalion, in Kaiserslautern (Germany) 106th Finance Battalion, in Kaiserslautern (Germany) 95th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, in Baumholder (Germany)
History
Origin
The unit was first constituted on 29 October 1965 in the Regular Army as the 16th General Support Group. It was then activated on 10 December 1965 in the Dominican Republic. The group returned to the continental United States and was subsequently inactivated on 19 September 1968 at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The group was redesignated on 16 September 1987 as the 16th Support Group and activated in Germany. Through the 1990s, the 16th CSG also participated in operations in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Kosovo. It received its distinctive unit insignia on 14 April 1988.
On 1 May 2002, the group was re-aligned to include the 181st Transportation Battalion located at Turley Barracks in Manheim, Germany, and the 485th Corps Support Battalion, located on Hutier Kaserne, to increase their combat service support capabilities.
In March 2003, the 16th Corps Support Group and its battalions deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The group provided logistical support to include direct support maintenance, transportation and supply support to all units in the operation. During this deployment the unit and controlled 3,000 logistical soldiers provided a support role for Combined Joint Task Force 7 (CJTF-7) for combat and stability operations, including the invasion, for Operation Iraqi Freedom. During this deployment they primarily operated out of Camp Dogwood.
The group saw a second deployment to Iraq in October 2005 while primarily operating out of Tallil Air Base and Camp Adder near An Nasiriyah Iraq. The 16th CSG also had support personnel located in Kuwait, Mosul, Baghdad and LSA Anaconda, LSA Taji, and other major bases around Iraq. 16th CSG Also provided support to Cedar II, Scania, Camp Charlie, Camp Delta, Camp Echo, Camp Duke and others with an area expanding from the Kuwait Border to LSA Anaconda During this deployment, soldiers of the group executed over 1,500 sustainment convoys which provided over of fuel, 1 million cases of bottled water and of purified water to allied forces. The 16th CSG also operated both the Air and Land Movement Control Centers with over rotary and fixed wing support for the 27th Movement Control Battalion and the 101st Airborne Division supply emergency support for camps and bases throughout Southern Iraq. During this deployment the 16th CSG also operated a Military Transition Team in the Southern Baghdad Area. During this operation they also controlled and supported logistic operations for such units for the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 36th Infantry Division, and the 34th Infantry Division. One of the other missions of the 16th CSG was their "S5 Section" which was Civil Affairs On 19 September 2006, the group rotated out of Iraq and back to Germany, replaced by the 82nd Sustainment Brigade.
Upon rotation back to Hanau Germany the 16th Corp Support Group began deactivating and assisting in the deactivation of units throughout Europe. Soldiers left with the unit were attached to Task Force Sustainer which was a joint operation with the 21st Theater Support Command in the shutting down of Kaserne's and Units, and the retrograding of vehicles and equipment.