11th Airborne Division activates sustainment brigade at JBER, adding three battalions

The Army's 11th Airborne Division activated a sustainment brigade at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Friday. The brigade adds logistics and intelligence battalions to the Alaska-based division, the Army's only Arctic airborne division.

The 11th Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade (Arctic) joins the division's two infantry brigade combat teams, one airborne and one air assault. According to an Army release, the brigade will aid the division's many complex and challenging Arctic missions. Col. George Plys commands it.

The brigade has three battalions. The 106th Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion was reactivated, and the 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion was redesignated the 17th Division Sustainment Support Battalion. Plys said one sustains the force, while the other provides intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities that help commanders understand the battlefield. The 11th Airborne Division Sustainment Troops Battalion is new.

Maj. Gen. John Cogbill, the division's commanding general, tied the brigade to endurance, one of four elements in the Army's new doctrine, "How the Army Fights," along with convergence, strike and close battle.

"Our ability to endure and sustain ourselves in the crucible of large-scale combat operations is impossible without the formations you see in front of you today," Cogbill said.

The division and its first two brigades were reactivated June 6, 2022, at ceremonies at Fort Wainwright and JBER. The Army calls it the active Army's youngest division, growing faster than any comparable unit. The division has also activated reception companies at JBER and Fort Wainwright.

The 402nd Army Field Support Brigade also supports the division, providing sustainment across the Indo-Pacific through units based in Alaska and Hawaii. The Army says sustaining troops in Alaska means adapting to extreme cold, distance and terrain, which affect maintenance, equipment reliability and personnel. An Army account from March described a logistics team supporting the division during training in temperatures as low as minus 50, with wind chills reaching minus 56.