The first three years of United States Army Reserve (USAR) deployment rotations were a challenging time for everyone, but particularly for those left in the rear. At that time, there was no plan in place for the establishment of a rear detachment. If a unit deployed, and they were the last occupants of a facility, the plan was to lock the building and turn the keys over to the nearest USAR agency. Soldiers who did not deploy with their unit, or were newly assigned after the unit was gone, had no place to report for duty. In my facility, there was one unit left when everyone else deployed. We served as the rear detachment for our deployed units, as well as for any Soldiers from other facilities where there were no units in the rear. There was little support from our higher headquarters due to continuous unit mobilizations, which caused frequent changes in our chain of command. When the USAR deployed the 194th Transportation Detachment in 2003, there was no plan for a rear detachment to deal with the aftermath.

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