Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC) was activated in 1989. Based in Hawaii at Fort Shafter, 4th Special Operations Support Command—officially designated as 4th Special Operations Support Command (Theater Army) (Airborne), or 4th Theater Army Special Operations Support Command (Airborne) —was originally established to plan and coordinate logistical support and sustainment functions in the execution of SOCPAC missions. But by the early 1990s its role had evolved into more of an Army Special Operations Command that was performing direct operational employment of Army Special Operations Forces in the Pacific Theater, due in part to the fact that neither the U.S. Commander in Chief, Pacific Command nor the Commander, Special Operations Command, Pacific was capable of performing those tasks.
A study by the United States Commander in Chief, United States Special Operations Command recommended that command, operational training, readiness, and intelligence functions be transferred from the 4th SOSC to “other organizations.” Similar recommendations were made regarding the Army's four other Special Operations Support Commands, and in 1995 all of them were reorganized into Special Operations Support Command (Airborne), the predecessor of today's 528th Sustainment Brigade (Special Operations) (Airborne).