Army quartermaster unit to stand up at JBER

  • Published
  • By David Bedard
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  A new quartermaster unit will stand up this summer at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, joining the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division.

The 241st Quartermaster Company (Airborne) will be a part of 4/25th IBCT's 725th Brigade Support Battalion (Airborne), and will be responsible for providing rigger support for personnel and equipment airdrop operations.

“The 241st Quartermaster Company will be a brigade-level rigger company,” said Army Lt. Col. James Cook, 725th BSB commander. “Their job will be to provide aerial delivery support to the brigade in order to maintain airborne proficiency.”

Cook said the brigade's rigger capability currently resides in the battalion's headquarters and headquarters company.

The 4th Quartermaster Company (Airborne) is a Pacific theater-level asset that currently works closely with HHC Soldiers. Cook said this relationship will continue after the transition despite the fact the 4th QM is scheduled to move from his battalion to the 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.

Both elements work at the unit's rigger facility and at the Joint Mobility Complex on the flightline.

“The infrastructure is already in place,” Cook said. “The locations for the rigger equipment and operations won't change. We will still work quite a bit with the 4th Quartermaster even when they move under a new command.”

Sgt. 1st Class Luis Rodriguez, a platoon sergeant with HHC, 725th BSB, said the transition is largely a matter of integrating a surge of first-term Soldiers with experienced HHC riggers and transferring equipment from the HHC to the 241st QM Company property book.

“It's an easy transition,” Rodriguez said. “We're supporting the same customers.”

Cook expressed his confidence in the rigger Soldiers transferring to the new command, citing a recent U.S. Army Pacific staff-assistance visit and inspection.

“Both 4th Quartermaster and HHC passed with flying colors,” he said. “I expect the same level of professionalism, capacity and capability to transfer to the 241st. It's the same people.”