In line with the 405th Army Field Support Brigade commander’s number one priority to regionally align the brigade’s four battalions and prepare for future Army Prepositioned Stock-2 operations in Poland, about 2,000 vehicles, containers and equipment pieces have been moved from north of the Alps to south of the Alps in the last three weeks. And over the next few weeks, the 405th AFSB’s Army Field Support Battalion Africa at Leghorn Army Depot, Italy, expects to receive about 4,000 more APS-2 equipment pieces and vehicles from the north, said Maj. Duane Dumlao, AFSBn Africa support operations officer.
As of today, AFSBn Africa has received 162 line haul trucks carrying 1,953 vehicles and equipment pieces shipped from APS-2 worksites in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, said Capt. Jeffrey Li, AFSBn Africa plans and operations officer. This includes rolling stock such as Humvees, trailers, ambulances, generators, fuel trucks and medium tactical vehicles as well as 20-foot containers and medical equipment. By shifting all these vehicles and equipment pieces south of the Alps, AFSBn Africa is freeing up available space at the brigade’s northern APS-2 worksites and at the same time providing vital capabilities to the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
“The main purpose of what we are supporting here and the reason why this APS-2 equipment is being shipped south of the Alps is to support the new APS-2 theatre strategy and provide capabilities to best support two Defense Department Combatant Commands,” said Larry Torres, 405th AFSB director of operations.
“These are incredibly important moves in support of our mission as a power projection platform,” said Robert Saylor, AFSBn Africa deputy to the commander.
Battalion Africa is a very small organization with a very large operational footprint – a small number of Soldiers and civilians taking on an incredibly large mission. Leghorn Army Depot and AFSBn Africa are very important to National Defense and to the support of U.S. interests. The planning, preparation, movement and reception of all this APS-2 from multiple worksites in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany to Leghorn Army Depot in Italy – enough equipment to outfit a base support battalion and a light infantry battalion – has been a total team effort.
Involved in the mission are elements of the brigade headquarters as well as elements from all four of its battalions – AFSBn Mannheim, AFSBn Benelux, AFSBn Germany and AFSBn Africa.
Brigade operations did an outstanding job keeping the AFSBn Africa team up to date on the movement of all those line haul trucks as they crossed multiple borders and multiple checkpoints along a 1,400 kilometer convoy route through as many as five countries. Over the next few weeks, AFSBn Africa personnel will continue to receive the additional vehicles and equipment pieces from north of the Alps and continue to inventory and store the vehicles and equipment in its facilities at Leghorn Army Depot. The 405th AFSB’s AFSBn Africa at Leghorn Army Depot is U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s premier power projection platform south of the Alps supporting both the European and the African theatres of operations.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. Forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging the U.S. Army Materiel Command’s materiel enterprise to support joint forces.
