USJFCOM was formed in 1999 when the old United States Atlantic Command was renamed and given a new mission: leading the transformation of the U.S. military through experimentation and education. USLANTCOM had been active from 1947 to 1993 as a primarily U.S. Navy command, focused upon the wartime defense of the Atlantic sea lanes against Soviet attack. After the end of the Cold War, a 1993 reorganization gave the Command a new acronym, USACOM, and brought United States Army Forces Command and Air Combat Command under its authority.
In late 2004, U.S. Joint Forces Command assumed the role of primary conventional force provider. This landmark change assigned nearly all U.S. conventional forces to Joint Forces Command. Requirements, for example, for U.S. service personnel to support the transformation of the Armed Forces of Liberia, were fed to JFCOM, in this case via Africa Command, and JFCOM liaised with the service staffs to obtain available forces. Along with this responsibility came the task to develop a new 'risk-assessment' process that provided national leaders a world-wide perspective on force-sourcing solutions.
Its operations and exercises included Noble Resolve, an experimentation campaign plan to enhance homeland defense and improve military support to civil authorities in advance of and following natural and man-made disasters and Empire Challenge, an annual intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) interoperability demonstration.
United States Joint Forces Command was the only combatant command focused on the transformation of U.S. military capabilities. The commander of USJFCOM oversaw the command's four primary roles in transformation – joint concept development and experimentation, joint training, joint interoperability and integration, and the primary conventional force provider as outlined in the Unified Command Plan approved by the President. Its Unified Command Plan designated USJFCOM as the "transformation laboratory" of the United States military to enhance the combatant commanders' capabilities to implement the president's strategy. USJFCOM developed joint operational concepts, tested those concepts through rigorous experimentation, educated joint leaders, trained joint task force commanders and staffs, and recommended joint solutions to the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines to better integrate their warfighting capabilities.
USJFCOM included members from each branch of the U.S. military, civil servants, contract employees, and consultants. It had four component commands, a sub-unified command (Special Operations component is SOCJFCOM and eight subordinate activities, including: Joint Warfighting Center; Joint Systems Integration Center; Joint Transformation Command for Intelligence; and Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC). JFCOM's Service components were the CONUS based commands that provided forces to other combatant commands: United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM), United StatesFleet Forces Command (USFLTFORCOM), Air Combat Command (ACC), and United StatesMarine Corps Forces Command (MARFORCOM).
On 9 August 2010 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that Joint Forces Command has been slated for elimination as a budget-saving measure. General Ray Odierno was given the task of winding down JFCOM. On 6 January 2011, the plan was officially approved in a memorandum by President Obama. On 3 August 2011, Joint Forces Command cased its flag colors.
The United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) is the largest Army Command and the preeminent provider of expeditionary, campaign-capable land forces to Combatant Commanders. It is headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. FORSCOM trains, mobilizes, deploys, sustains, transforms and reconstitutes conventional forces to provide relevant and ready land power to combatant commanders worldwide in defense of the nation at home and abroad. FORSCOM is responsible for the readiness of more than 75 percent of the Army’s force structure and 87 percent of the Army’s combat power. Forces Command provides Army forces to the joint war fight. JFCOM's mission is to provide U.S. military forces where needed throughout the world and to ensure they are integrated and trained as unified forces ready for any assigned task. The capabilities of the new brigade-level formations – armor, infantry, airborne, air assault and Stryker – ensure greater flexibility and enhance FORSCOM’s ability to deploy trained and ready forces quickly.
The Active Component of FORSCOM currently has over 237,000 soldiers. Third U.S. Army, also located at Fort McPherson, is the Army component of United States Central Command, the Joint command responsible for Southwest Asia and the Horn of Africa. FORSCOM also commands three Army corps: I Corps at Fort Lewis, Washington; III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas; and XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Together they include eight divisions (1st Cavalry Division, 1st Armored Division, 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Division, 10th Mountain Division, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne Division, three separate brigades, two armored cavalry regiments, 37 support brigades of various types, and a range of other corps combat, combat support and combat service support units. First U.S. Army is responsible for training, mobilization and deployment support to Reserve Component units in FORSCOM. They also execute FORSCOM missions within their geographic areas of responsibility. A major subordinate command of Forces Command is the United States Army Reserve Command (USARC), also is headquartered at Fort Bragg, N.C. It commands all Army Reserve units in the continental United States, except those assigned to Special Operations Command. The Army National Guard provides Forces Command a balanced force of eight National Guard combat divisions, 15 brigades, and extensive combat support and combat service support units.
The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFLTFORCOM) of the United States Navy is the part of the Navy responsible for operations in and around the Atlantic Ocean. Originally formed as United States Atlantic Fleet (USLANTFLT) in 1906, it has been an integral part of the defense of the United States of America for most of the 20th century. In 2002, the Fleet comprised over 118,000 sailors and marines serving on 186 ships and in 1,300 aircraft, with an area of responsibility ranging over the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South Pole, the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Central and South America (as far west as the Galapagos Islands). Its operational force (i.e., the formation of fighting ships) is the United States Second Fleet. USFLTFORCOM is based at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia.
The command's mission is to organize, man, train, and equip Naval Forces for assignment to Unified Command Combatant commanders; to deter, detect, and defend against homeland maritime threats; and to articulate Fleet warfighting and readiness requirements to the Chief of Naval Operations.
Air Combat Command (ACC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force. ACC is one of ten major commands (MAJCOMs), reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF). It is ACC is headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The mission of Air Combat Command is to be the primary force provider of combat airpower to America's warfighting commands. To support global implementation of national security strategy, ACC operates fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, battle-management and electronic-combat aircraft. Air Combat Command also provides command, control, computing, communications and intelligence (C4I) systems, and conducts global information operations.
As a force provider, ACC organizes, trains, equips and maintains combat-ready forces for rapid deployment and employment while ensuring strategic air defense forces are ready to meet the challenges of peacetime air sovereignty and wartime air defense.
ACC numbered air forces provide the air components to United States Central Command, United States Southern Command, former United States Joint Forces Command, United States Northern Command and United States Strategic Command.
In addition, ACC augments forces to United States European Command and United States Pacific Command.
U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command (MARFORCOM) is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Norfolk, Virginia. It was the United States Marine Corps
component of the United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM). It was previously known as Marine Forces Atlantic (MARFORLANT).
MARFORCOM is one of three major Marine Corps commands (along with United States Marine Corps Forces Pacific and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve) that provide operating forces to support Unified or Joint Task Force Commanders and Fleet Commanders Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command (COMMARFORCOM) serves as a principal advisor to the Commander in Chief, United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM), on Marine Corps matters. He is responsible for organizing, training and equipping forces for employment as directed by USJFCOM.
COMMARFORCOM also serves in the following capacities:
Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic
Commander, United States Marine Forces, Europe
Commander, United States Marine Corps Forces, South
Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Bases, Atlantic
The warfighting arm of MARFORCOM is the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF). II MEF is composed of about 45,000 personnel from the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Logistics Group and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.
United States Special Operations Command Joint ForcesCommand (SOCJFCOM), now Special Operations Command – Joint Capabilities(SOC-JC), was transferred to USSOCOM from the soon to be disestablished United States Joint Forces Command. It was formerly known as United States Special Operations Command Joint Forces Command (SOCJFCOM).
Primary Mission: SOC-JC trains conventional and SOF commanders and their staffs, supports USSOCOM international engagement training requirements, and supports implementation of capability solutions in order to improve strategic and operational warfighting readiness and joint interoperability. SOC-JC must also be prepared to support deployed Special Operations Joint Task Force (SOJTF) Headquarters (HQ).
As a joint sub-unified command under USSOCOM, SOC-JC’s core function is to enhance the interoperability of conventional and Special Operations Forces (SOF) commanders and staffs through robust strategic and operational level joint training. In coordination with the USSOCOM J3, J7/9 and Joint Special Operations University (JSOU), SOC-JC provides excellent training and support to the education for SOF and Conventional Forces (CF) worldwide. Additionally, SOC-JC supports the joint SOF capabilities development process while maintaining the flexibility to support emerging initiatives.
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