The command was established 1 October 2002, when the Department of the Army redesignated the 9th Army Signal Command as the United States Army Network Enterprise Technology Command and the 9th Army Signal Command (NETCOM/9th ASC).
However, NETCOM/9th ASC could trace its heritage back to its constitution as the 9th Service Company on 14 February 1918, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The 9th Signal Service Company moved its unit headquarters from Honolulu to Fort Shafter in 1921, and remained in a status quo for the next two decades.
Signal operations at Fort Shafter shifted on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. By 1942, the 9th Signal Service Company’s mission expanded as conflict dictated, and the unit began to furnish radio operators going out to Christmas, Canton, and Fanning Islands.
In April 1943, the unit was redesignated as the 972nd Signal Service Company and on 8 January 1944, was reorganized as a battalion and designated as the 972nd Signal Service Battalion. The expanding Pacific offensive and the consequent growth in signal requirements demanded a reallocation of theater signal resources.
In January 1949, post-war organizational force reductions featured several battalion inactivations at Fort Shafter, of which the 972d was one.
A decade later, in May 1958, the Chief of Signal ordered the 972nd Signal Battalion back to active service, this time not overseas, but at Tobyanna Signal Depot, Pennsylvania, and in July 1962, the 972nd was reassigned from the Chief Signal Officer to Second United States Army.
In August 1965, the 972nd was alerted for overseas shipment back to the Pacific. This time to the war-torn shores of South Vietnam.
The 972nd was inactivated for a second time on 20 October 1967, in Vietnam. This time, inactive status was short-lived and the unit was activated again in May 1968 at Fort Lewis, Washington and then back to Vietnam.
The newly organized 972nd Signal Battalion arrived at Long Binh, Vietnam, on 29 October 1968, and was assigned to the 2nd Signal Group, 1st Signal Brigade, U.S. Army Strategic Communications Command, to provide contingency communications support throughout the Republic of Vietnam.
In late November 1969, the Army inactivated the 972nd in conjunction with the phased redeployment of U.S. Army Forces from South Vietnam.
For the next 28 years, the unit remained dormant on the Army’s inactive list. Then on 16 September 1997, the 972nd Signal Battalion materialized on the regular Army’s active rolls yet again, this time as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 9th Army Signal Command (ASC), a major subordinate command assigned to U.S. Army Forces Command.
In 2001, 9th ASC became the single operator and manager for the Army’s information structure. As such, 9th ASC was given the mission to operate, manage and defend the Army’s information networks at the enterprise level.
As part of the Army’s department-wide transformation in October 2002, the newly established NETCOM/9th ASC became a direct reporting unit (DRU) assigned to the Army Chief Information Officer (DCS/G6), becoming the single point of contact for Army network development and protection.
On 9 September 2010, the command divested its 9th ASC title and lineage. Wishing to retain the lineage and honors, the Commanding General requested and received approval to retire the 9th ASC name only.
On 6 March 2014, the Department of the Army disestablished NETCOM as a HQDA Chief Information Officer/G-6 DRU and reassigned it to Second Army, and the NETCOM Commander became dual-hatted as the Deputy Commander, Second Army.
Effective 11 July 2016, the Secretary of the Army inactivated Second Army and designated United States Army Cyber Command (USARCYBER) as an Army service component command (ASCC) to United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), reporting directly to Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA). At the same time, NETCOM was reassigned to our current position under USARCYBER.
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