75th Innovation Command


The 75th Innovation Command is a separate command of the United States Army Reserve.
The 75th IC was activated as the 75th Infantry Division in World War II. Inactivated in 1945, it was reactivated in 1952 at Houston, Texas, from the assets of the disbanded 22nd Armored Division of the United States Army Organized Reserves. It was active as an Infantry Division from 1952 to 1957, when it was reorganized and redesignated as the 75th Maneuver Area Command, and given responsibility for planning and conducting Field Training Exercises and Command Post Exercises for all Reserve Component units west of the Mississippi River.
In 1993, the 75th MAC was redesignated as the 75th Division in the Army Reserve, which in later years became designated the 75th Training Command. In January 2003, numerous units of the 75th were mobilized to train other Army Reserve and Army National Guard units deploying overseas in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom. In January 2018, the 75th was reorganized into the 75th Innovation Command with its training divisions reassigned to the 84th Training Command.

World War II

Combat chronicle

The 75th Infantry Division arrived in Britain, 22 November 1944; headquarters having arrived on 2 November 1944. After a brief training program, the division landed at Le Havre and Rouen, 13 December, and bivouacked at Yvetot on the 14th. When the Von Rundstedt offensive broke in the Ardennes, the 75th was rushed to the front and entered defensive combat, 23 December 1944, alongside the Ourthe River, advanced to the Aisne River, and entered Grandmenil, 5 January 1945. The division relieved the 82d Airborne Division along the Salm River, 8 January, and strengthened its defensive positions until 17 January when it attacked, taking Vielsalm and other towns in the area.
Shifting to the Seventh Army area in Alsace—Lorraine, the 75th crossed the Colmar Canal, 1 February, and took part in the liberation of Colmar and in the fighting between the Rhine River and the Vosges Mountains. It crossed the Marne-Rhine Canal and reached the Rhine, 7 February. After a brief rest at Lunéville, it returned to combat, relieving the 6th British Airborne Division on a defensive front along the Meuse, near Roermond, in the Netherlands, on 21 February. From 13 to 23 March, the 75th patrolled a sector along the west bank of the Rhine from Wesel to Homburg, and probed enemy defenses at night.
On 24 March, elements crossed the Rhine in the wake of the 30th and 79th Divisions. Pursuit of the enemy continued as the 75th cleared the Haard Forest, 1 April, crossed the Dortmund-Ems Canal on the 4th, and cleared the approaches to Dortmund, which fell to the 95th Division, 13 April. Around the same time, troops of the division liberated Stalag VI-A, a POW camp where thousands of Soviet and Polish prisoners of war had died of malnutrition and disease. After taking Herdecke, 13 April, the division moved to Braumbauer for rest and rehabilitation, then took over security and military government duties in Westphalia. The father of Randy Pausch was wounded and received a Bronze Star during this time, as related in The Last Lecture.
The division was located at Werdohl, Germany, on 14 August 1945.
It returned to the Continental US at Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation on 14 November 1945, and proceeded to Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia.
The division was inactivated 14 November 1945, at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia.

Assignments in the ETO

  • 9 December 1944: 12th Army Group
  • 9 December 1944: Ninth Army, 12th Army Group.
  • 11 December 1944: XVI Corps.
  • 22 December 1944: VII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group.
  • 29 December 1944: XVIII Corps.
  • 2 January 1945: VII Corps.
  • 7 January 1945: XVIII Corps.
  • 25 January 1945: 6th Army Group.
  • 30 January 1945: XXI Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group, but attached for operations to the First French Army, 6th Army Group.
  • 11 February 1945: Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.
  • 14 February 1945: 12th Army Group.
  • 17 February 1945: Ninth Army, 12th Army Group, but attached to the British Second Army for operations and the British VIII Corps for administration.
  • 1 March 1945: XVI Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group.

Units

  • Headquarters, 75th Infantry Division
  • 289th Infantry Regiment
  • 290th Infantry Regiment
  • 291st Infantry Regiment
  • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 75th Infantry Division Artillery
  • * 730th Field Artillery Battalion
  • * 897th Field Artillery Battalion
  • * 898th Field Artillery Battalion
  • * 899th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 275th Engineer Combat Battalion
  • 375th Medical Battalion
  • 75th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop
  • Headquarters, Special Troops, 75th Infantry Division
  • * Headquarters Company, 75th Infantry Division
  • * 775th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
  • * 75th Quartermaster Company
  • * 575th Signal Company
  • * Military Police Platoon
  • * Band
  • 75th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

Casualties

  • Total battle casualties: 4,324
  • Killed in action: 817
  • Wounded in action: 3,314
  • Missing in action: 77
  • Prisoner of war: 116

History since 1945

On 21 February 1952, the division was allocated to the Organized Reserve Corps. It was activated on 1 March 1952, at Houston, Texas. The reborn 75th Infantry Division appears to have been "reflagged" from the inactivating 22nd Armored Division. In July 1952 the Organized Reserve Corps was redesignated the Army Reserve. The division was inactivated on 15 February 1957 in Houston. At that point the
Army's official lineage for the division falls silent for over 40 years. Technically the division was only redesignated and activated in October 1993.
However, the day the division was inactivated in 1957, the 75th Maneuver Area Command was formed, in the same location, Houston, Texas.
On 1 October 1993 it was redesignated as Headquarters, 75th Division and activated, again at Houston, Texas. It was then reorganized and redesignated on 17 October 1999 as Headquarters, 75th Division.
The Army's official lineage for the division does not appear to have been updated since 2001. However, since that time, the division was:
  • Redesignated 2 November 2007 as 75th Battle Command Training Division
  • Redesignated 1 October 2011 as 75th Training Division, later 75th Training Command
The 75th Training Command was made up of a HHC and five subordinate divisions, each of which is separated into three training brigades. The 75th Training Command and its subordinate divisions were the only entities that have the mission and capability to train reserve component forces in the full Mission Command Staff Training continuum. The command carried out MCST in all phases of the Army Force Generation culminating in the preparation of battalions, brigades and higher-level headquarters for deployment in the available phase of the ARFORGEN rotation. The command's Vision Statement was "To be the premier provider of realistic and relevant battle-focused command and staff training in a digital contemporary operating environment, making the total force ready for any worldwide mission."
In January 2018, the 75th Training Command was re-designated as the 75th Innovation Command. All previously subordinate units outside of headquarters and headquarters company were reassigned to the 84th Training Command. It is also now known as the U.S. Army Reserve Innovation Command.
Current Mission: "The 75th Innovation Command drives operational innovation, concepts, and capabilities to enhance the readiness and lethality of the Future Force by leveraging the unique skills, agility, and private sector connectivity of America's Army Reserve." USARIC is designed to be in direct support of Transformation and Training Command. With a requirement for senior officers and NCOs to research and publish thought leadership, there are several publications across disciplines by its members.
Current Commander and Command Sergeant Major are MG Martin F. Klein and CSM Kristal Florquist. Current Deputy Commander is BG Robert E. Guidry.
USARIC Headquarters and Headquarters Company – Houston, Texas

Honors and awards

Campaign participation credit

  • World War II:
  1. Rhineland;
  2. Ardennes-Alsace;
  3. Central Europe

Awards

Individual awards

Notable members

General

  • Shoulder patch: Khaki-bordered square with diagonal fields of blue, white, and red on which is superimposed a blue 7 and red 5.