104 S05 Ep 04 – From Brigade Support Battalion to Light Support BN in Mobility Brigade Combat Teams: Transforming Sustainment for Large Scale Combat Operations w/LTC Justin Bowman of 426 LSB

The Joint Readiness Training Center is pleased to present the one-hundredth-and-fourth episode to air on ‘The Crucible - The JRTC Experience.’ Hosted by the Task Force Senior for the TF Sustainment (BSB / CSSB), LTC Bruce Roett on behalf of the Commander of Ops Group (COG). Today’s guests are three seasoned medical professionals with 1st Mobility Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division. LTC Justin Bowmen is the Battalion Commander for the 426th Light Support Battalion of the 1st Mobility Brigade Combat Team in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). MAJ Ryan Morris is the Brigade Support Operations Officer (SPO) for 1st MBCT of the 101st ABD (AASLT). CPT William Breedlove is the S-3 Operations Officer for the 426th LSB of the 1st MBCT of the 101st ABD (AASLT).

 

The 426th Light Support Battalion (LSB), formerly the 426th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB), serves as the sustainment backbone of the 1st Mobility Brigade Combat Team “Bastogne,” 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Known by its Hollywood call-sign “Taskmasters,” the battalion carries the proud motto “Taskmasters Can!” and has a long lineage of support excellence dating back to its origins in World War II. Initially activated as part of the 101st Division Support Command, the unit provided critical logistics support during key operations in Europe, including Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. Reorganized as the 426th BSB in the modular force era, the battalion has since deployed in support of multiple contingency operations, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, as one of the Army’s first Light Support Battalions under the Division Sustainment Brigade model, the 426 LSB is pioneering new methods of distributed sustainment, mobile logistics, and command post survivability in support of LSCO as part of Task Force Bastogne’s transformation-in-contact initiative.

 

This episode delivers an in-depth discussion on the employment of the Light Support Battalion (LSB) within the new Mobility Brigade Combat Team (MBCT) framework, using 426th LSB for 1st MBCT of the 101st Airborne Division as a case study. The episode explores the structural transition from a traditional Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) to an LSB under the Division Sustainment Brigade (DSB), including the reorganization of support companies into more mobile and modular Combat Logistics Companies (CLCs). These companies are purpose-built for direct support to light infantry battalions in LSCO environments. Key topics include changes to task organization, reductions in personnel and equipment, and the resulting impacts on mission command and sustainment support. The LSB’s experimentation with a three-cluster BSA configuration was highlighted, emphasizing survivability through dispersion, redundancy in support capabilities, and operational flexibility.

 

Best practices included deliberate MDMP planning cycles, the integration of emerging technologies such as Skydio drones for BSA security and route reconnaissance, and the execution of detailed sustainment rehearsals using physical props to visualize commodity flow. Friction points were numerous and centered around command and control challenges created by dispersed nodes, difficulty in maintaining a shared common operating picture (COP), digital system limitations, and underutilized analog backups. Suggested improvements included co-locating SPO and staff leadership for planning synchronization, building greater analog COP redundancy, improving digital communications through more widespread fielding of TSM/MUOS radios, and formalizing a more mobile and survivable C2 infrastructure. The episode concludes with a recognition that while the LSB construct is still maturing, it provides a more adaptive and threat-informed sustainment capability suitable for LSCO.

 

Part of S05 “Beans, Bullets, Band-Aids, Batteries, Water, & Fuel” series.

 

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