Support

Government issue number 11B20P is a highly specialized piece of Army ordinance which has been known to function for extended time spans without fuel, maintenance or supervision, operating solely on a built-in, inexhaustible supply of what is known at Ft. Benning as "guts."

The single "raison d'etre" for Support Command is the mud-stained, sweet-soaked, battle-hardened line doggie the boonie rat, the ground-pounder, the crunchie, the dogface, the grunt, --11B20P.

He needs his mail and an occasional newspaper. He needs a medic to care for his feet, and a chaplain to care for his soul. He needs new clothing when the jungle shreds his old one. He needs weapons and ammunition that work when his life depends on them; and that means they must work every time. He's a fighter, and does not have time to worry whether his personnel and finance records are in order. He considers himself very lucky if he gets a hot meal once a day.

To insure that 11B20P, the airborne infantryman, has more than his own fortitude to sustain him, there exists in within the 101st Airborne Division a vast complex of men and material known as Support Command.

Support command devotes itself entirely to 11B20P, because 11B20P has the second hardest job in the world.The first hardest job in the world belongs to the man on the other side, who has to fight them.