In one form or another, the sustainment warfighting function
described in Field Manual (FM) 3–0, Operations, has been an
essential feature of the Army’s operational past since at least
World War I. The sustainment concept was institutionalized in
March 1942 as part of a massive Army reorganization that
accompanied the entry of the United States into World War II.
Driven by Chief of Staff of the Army General George C. Marshall,
the reorganization aimed to reduce the number of officers and
organizations that had immediate access to him. The resulting
reorganization restructured the Army into three major commands:
the Army Ground Forces (AGF), the Army Air Forces (AAF), and a
command initially called the Services of Supply (SOS)—the Army’s
sustainment command. Everything that did not fit clearly into
the AGF or the AAF went to the SOS. Lieutenant General Brehon B.
Somervell was selected to command the SOS organization. Army
Service Forces In March 1943, the War Department staff renamed
the SOS the “Army Service