Army Reserve Water Experts Placed on Alert in Southland

An Army Reserve water-transportation unit with about 100 members in Southern California, including Orange County, has been placed on alert status for a possible call to active duty, military officials announced in Los Alamitos on Friday.

The unit placed on alert is the 316th Quartermaster Company, based at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego County. Officials said they could not immediately determine how many of the reservists in the unit are Orange County residents.

Maj. Gen. Theodore W. Paulson told a press conference at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Los Alamitos that the 316th Quartermaster Company is a highly specialized unit that is part of the 63rd Army Reserve Command, which he heads. The 316th is composed of officers and enlisted men trained in transporting and storing water for up to 10,000 soldiers, he said.

“This unit has trained in the Middle East and is one of the most proficient units of its type in the Army,” Paulson said. He emphasized that the reserve unit has not yet been ordered to active duty, but only placed on alert. Military officials could give no estimate of when the unit might be called to active duty or where it might be assigned.

Noting that the Army Reserve Command at Los Alamitos has many units assigned there, Paulson said at least 50 officers and enlisted personnel have already volunteered for recall to active duty. Those volunteers, who were not identified, represent a variety of Army special skills, including intelligence and mechanical repair, Paulson said. The volunteers have all been assigned to active military units within the United States and no reservists have been assigned to the Middle East, he said.