13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)
13th ESC shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	1965 – present
Country	USA
Branch	United States Army
Type	Sustainment command (expeditionary)
Size	6,000 soldiers
Garrison/HQ	Fort Hood
Nickname(s)	"Lucky 13th"
Motto(s)	Service to the Soldier
Engagements	Operation Iraqi Freedom *Transition of Iraq *Iraqi Governance *National Resolution Iraqi Surge Iraqi Sovereignty
Commanders
Colonel of the Regiment	LTG Richard Hack
Notable commanders	Johnnie E. Wilson Billy K. Solomon James E. Chambers Terence Hildner

The 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)—the "Lucky 13th"—is a U.S. Army modular sustainment command which serves as a forward presence for expeditionary operations for a theater, or in support of a regional combatant commander. Expeditionary sustainment commands (ESC), such as the 13th, synchronize distribution of supplies and services within their operational areas and provides distribution oversight. Formed at Fort Hood, Texas when the 1st Logistics Command deployed to Vietnam, the organization then known the 13th Support Brigade was initially responsible for the training of technical services units to assume combat service support missions in Southeast Asia.

As the Army redefined the missions of its logistics forces in response to building towards a 16-division Army, it was designated a corps support command (COSCOM). In 1992 the 13th COSCOM deployed to Somalia as part of Operation Restore Hope where for the first time a COSCOM was given the mission to provide theater-level support in a major U.S. operation. The 13th ESC has deployed to Iraq and served as the logistics command for hurricane relief efforts in support of the American people after hurricanes Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita devastated the Gulf Coast.

The 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) was constituted on 11 August 1965 in the Regular Army, and activated 24 September 1965 at Fort Hood, Texas as the 13th Support Brigade. The 13th Support Brigade was formed as the nation's involvement in Vietnam increased, and was tasked with the training of technical services units to assume combat service support missions in Southeast Asia. With reorganization from the "technical service" concept to the "combat service to the Army" concept, functional training of units was decentralized in the Continental Army Command to post, camp and station level.

The command continued to evolve due to increased missions and changing roles. Along with similar units, it was redesignated as 13th Corps Support Command (COSCOM) on 21 June 1975, and then the 13th Support Command (Corps) on 16 October 1980. As part of Army Transformation, it was reflagged to its current configuration as the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) during a formal ceremony on 23 February 2006.