U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center

The DEVCOM Soldier Center, sometimes CCDC Soldier Center (Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, DEVCOM SC aka CCDC SC), formerly the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), is a military research complex and installation in Natick, Massachusetts, charged by the U.S. Department of Defense with the research and development (including fielding and sustainment) of food, clothing, shelters, airdrop systems, and other servicemember support items for the U.S. military.

DEVCOM Soldier Center is a component unit of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) and is a tenant unit of the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center (NSSC), formerly U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center (SSC). The installation includes facilities from all the military services, not just the Army, and is so configured to allow cross-service cooperation and collaboration both within the facility and with the many academic, industrial and governmental institutions in the Greater Boston Area.

DEVCOM is subordinate to U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC) headquartered in Austin, Texas, which was activated in July 2018. U.S. Army Futures Command was formerly U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

NSSC is commonly known as Natick Laboratories, although this designation more properly refers to one of its tenant units, the U.S. Army DEVCOM Soldier Center.

The installation

NSSC occupies at its main Natick campus and has an additional in neighboring communities. The main campus is located to the northwest of Natick center and abuts upon Lake Cochituate.

Employee/tenant numbers total 1,957 (159 military personnel, 1,048 civilians and 750 contractors).

The SSC public relations office reported that the installation’s FY2006 funding totaled approximately $1 billion and that the facilities infuse more than $135 million annually into the local economy through installation salaries, utilities, and local contracts.

The installation commander is a U.S. Army Brigadier General, currently BG George Hackler, who also serves as the Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command.

Mission

NSSC includes facilities designed to research and test both materials (textiles, combat rations), advanced technologies and human performance (human research volunteers) under simulated environmental extremes (altitude, heat, cold, wind, etc.). The requirement for improved combat rations has led to groundbreaking developments in the field of food irradiation and freeze-drying techniques. Improved body armor, new military parachuting technology, and enhanced military garments designed for a variety of environments are all ongoing efforts.

History

Construction of the Quartermaster Research Laboratory at Natick, MA, was authorized by Congress in October 1949, and began in November 1952. The ceremonial laying of a cornerstone for the Natick facility happened on 30 May 1953, with Speaker Joseph W. Martin Jr., Sen. Leverett Saltonstall, Sen. John F. Kennedy, and others in attendance. In October 1953, the QRL was redesignated as the Quartermaster Research and Development Center, and designated a Quartermaster Class II installation. At the same time, the Quartermaster Research and Development Command was established at Natick, MA. The center was operable by summer 1954. Later, the center was redesignated as Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command in January 1957.

July 1961 saw the activation of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) at Natick and a year later the QREC was placed under the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC). In November 1962, the QREC was redesignated as Natick Laboratories and the following year the Food and Container Institute moved to Natick. July 1967 saw the Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility (NCTRF) relocate to Natick.

Natick Laboratories became a subordinate element to the Troop Support Command (TROSCOM) in July 1973 and was redesignated two years later as the U.S. Army Natick Development Center and reassigned to the AMC. The NDC was redesignated the U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Command (NARADCOM) in January 1976 and assigned to the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM) (aka AMC, which was redesignated the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM) that same month).

In September 1980, NARADCOM was redesignated as the U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Laboratories, and three years later, in October 1983, as the U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Center, a subordinate element of the U.S. Army Troop Support Command (TROSCOM) in St. Louis, Missouri. (Elements of DARCOM and TROSCOM merged in July 1992 forging the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command (ATCOM), St. Louis, Mo.)

In 1982, Natick Labs surrendered control of 3,100 acres in the Massachusetts towns of Hudson, Maynard, Stow and Sudbury to Fort Devens to become a field training facility. The land had been an ordnance supply depot during World War II. After being an Environmental Protection Agency "superfund" cleanup site in the 1990s, it became the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge.

In October 1992, the NRDC was redesignated the U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center (NRDEC), still a subordinate element of the ATCOM.

A U.S. Army Soldier Systems Command (SSCOM) was activated at Natick in November 1994. Elements subsequently established at the SSCOM included the Sustainment & Readiness Directorate (February 1995) and Product Manager-Soldier Support (October 1995); elements subsequently relocated to Natick included the Clothing and Services Office (October 1996; from Ft. Lee, Virginia) and Product Manager- Force Provider (June 1997). The Sustainment & Readiness Directorate became the Integrated Material Management Center in October 1997.

SSCOM merged with the Chemical Biological Defense Command (CBDCOM) to become the Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM) in October 1998. At this time the installation was renamed the Soldier Systems Center (SSC). At some time prior to January 2017, the installation was renamed Soldier Systems Center Natick (SSC).

Sometime in the 1990s, NRDEC was redesignated as U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC), being redesignated later as U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) in the late 2000s. On 3 February 2019, NSRDEC became U.S. Army CCDC Soldier Center (of Combat Capabilities Development Command). Sometime afterward, the acronym gradually transitioned from CCDC Soldier Center to U.S. Army DEVCOM Soldier Center.

Tenant units and facilities

NSSC hosts several tenant units and facilities. The following is a list for each.

List of research and development commands, centers, offices and elements:

* U.S. Army DEVCOM Soldier Center (Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, abbreviated as DEVCOM SC), formerly NSRDEC, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
* U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (ARIEM), a subordinate lab of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (MRDC), headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland
* U.S. Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM)
* U.S. Army Integrated Logistics and Support Center (ILSC)
* U.S. Coast Guard Clothing Design and Technical Office (CDTO)
* U.S. Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility (NCTRF)
* Elements of PM-Soldier Equipment (part of PEO Soldier, with its main facilities located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia)
* U.S. Army Product Manager Force Sustainment Systems (PM FSS)
* U.S. Army RDECOM Acquisition Center - Natick, the Natick Contracting Division of RDECOM AC, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
* An office of the General Services Administration (GSA)
* An office of the Hanscom Federal Credit Union
* An office of the United States Health Services Command
* An office of the Defense Automated Printing Service
* An office of the U.S. Army Audit Agency

List of facilities and laboratories:

* The Doriot Climatic Chamber Complex
* Combat Rations Production and Packaging Facility
* 3-D Anthropometrics Laboratory
* Camouflage Evaluation Facility
* Rain Court
* Hydro-Environmental Chamber
* Shade Room
* Fiber Plant
* Thermal and Flame Laboratory
* Military Operations in Urban Environment (MOUT) Lab/Facility

List of commanding generals

Products and systems

Natick Labs has developed or is developing the following items or systems:
* Meal, Ready-to-Eat
* Unitized Group Ration
* Irradiated food
*The "instant chapel"
*Bulletproof clothing
* MOLLE Load-carriage Equipment
* Land Warrior
* Future Soldier
* Future Force Warrior
* Collective Protection Shelters
* Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops
* Interceptor Body Armor
*Quarpel, a water-repellent, water and stain resistant textile treatment

See also

* Engineer Research and Development Laboratory (ERDL), prior and coexisting U.S. Army laboratory
* PEO Soldier, program executive office
* List of military installations in Massachusetts
* Armed Forces Recipe Service (maintained by Natick Labs until 2009)
* Close quarters combat
* Close combat
* Small unit tactics

References

*Earls, Alan R., (2005) ''U.S. Army Natick Laboratories: The Science Behind the Soldier'' (Series: Images of America), Arcadia Publishing.
''This article contains information that originally came from US Government publications and websites and is in the public domain.''

External links

Program Executive Office (PEO) SoldierOfficial SSC Website Official Garrison Website
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Research installations of the United States Army
Buildings and structures in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts
Army, Soldier Systems Center
Natick, Massachusetts
Installations of the United States Army in Massachusetts
1952 establishments in Massachusetts