FORT HOOD, Texas - The 13th Financial Management Support Center, a subordinate unit of the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), will case its colors for good during an inactivation ceremony here on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 10:00 a.m. on Hildner Field.
The unit currently consists of a little more than 40 soldiers.
Media interested in covering the event should be at the Marvin Leath Visitors Center designated media parking lot outside of the Bernie Beck Gate at 9:30 a.m. to meet up with the public affairs escorts.
Here is a brief summary of the unit's history:
Constituted on Nov. 1 1942, the unit was activated at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind., on Dec. 7, 1942, as the 13th Finance Section. With more than 70 years of history, the 13th has gone through several redesignations, inactivations and reorganizations keeping pace with the needs of the U.S. Army.
The unit proudly supported finance operations serving in World War II and Vietnam.
On June 17, 1993, the 13th Finance Group was reorganized and redesignated here at “The Great Place” Fort Hood, Texas, and proudly took the name “The Phantom Paymasters.”
Since its arrival here at Fort Hood, the unit performed broad ranges of support missions to include participating in Operation Sea Eagle in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Operation Vigilant Warrior in Saudi Arabia; Operation Joint Endeavor, Joint Forge and Joint Guard in Bosnia and Germany.
On May 16, 2008, the 13th Finance Group was reorganized and redesignated as the 13th Financial Management Center. The 13th has served proudly during the Global War on Terrorism. From 2009-2010, the 13th FMC served in Afghanistan in a capacity that was not traditional for theater FMCs. The 13th augmented the USFOR-A J8 staff, manning the headquarters in Kabul and Kandahar, and providing much-needed financial management personnel to man the eight area support resource management offices. They provided all Title X financial management support for the Combined Joint Area of Operations Afghanistan (CJOA-A).
The unit’s last tour was during the period Sept. 17, 2012, to June 16, 2013. The 13th Financial Management Support Center served as the technical coordinator of all theater finance operations while serving as the principal adviser to the United States Army Central Command (USARCENT) G-8 and the 1st Theater Sustainment Command Commander on all aspects of theater financial operations.
The 13th FMSC executed greatly in support of all financial operations in the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility.
During this tour, the 13th was the first FMSC to utilize the General Funds Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) in a deployed environment. This was a significant undertaking that laid the foundation for the Army becoming audit ready by 2017 meeting the intent of the assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller and the secretary of defense.
The 13th Financial Management Support Center’s history of awards include: Campaign participation credit was given for World War II, Vietnam and the Global War on Terrorism. The unit was awarded three Meritorious Unit Commendation for service during Vietnam, and one Meritorious Unit Citation was awarded for the Global War on Terrorism.