BLSTs get new homes at Fort Carson

By Devin Fisher (Fort Carson Mountaineer)January 31, 2011

BLSTs get new homes at Fort Carson
Robert Giles (left), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District resident engineer, Lt. Col. Andrew Centineo, Army Field Support Battalion-Carson commander, and Tim Woods, owner of Liberty General Contractors, LLC, signify the start of a project to b... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

The 407th Army Field Support Battalion-Carson Commander, Lt. Col. Andrew Centineo, along with Robert Giles, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District resident engineer, and Tim Woods, owner of Liberty General Contractors, LLC, braved the single digit temperatures Jan. 11 to break the frozen ground at the future site of the first brigade logistics support team facility to be built at Fort Carson, Colo.

They made the first digs with ceremonial shovels as the small crowd huddled to witness the beginning of construction of the logistics facility within the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, complex near Wilderness Road.

"This groundbreaking signifies the relevance Army Materiel Command and Army Sustainment Command have at a (U.S. Forces Command) installation," Centineo said during the brief ceremony. "This is the first building built on this installation to signify the brigade logistics support team and the mission support they provide to the (4th BCT, 4th Inf. Div.) war fighting brigade."

Three BLST facilities will be built simultaneously to support the brigade combat teams on Fort Carson, said Tim Woods, owner of Liberty General Contractors, LLC. A service-disabled veteran, Woods said he enjoys projects on military installations.

"I love it," said the former Marine. "This is all I'd (like to) do."

The Army Materiel Command activity evolved from a logistics assistance office to a logistics support element before becoming a battalion in 2006. The creation of three 4,800 square-foot buildings will provide permanent homes for the Army Field Support Battalion near those they support, Centineo said.

The battalion headquarters is currently located in building 8100 on O'Connell Boulevard, but he said his team is spread across the installation.

"As a brigade deploys, we occupy motor pools to manage the (Army Force Generation) cycle for the left-behind equipment," he said. "We do (equipment) reset ... we do all things in the ARFORGEN model that deals with supporting the war fighter."

Centineo said the Army Field Support Battalion is expanding into the Directorate of Logistics area picking up "all things logistics for Fort Carson," which includes supply and service, maintenance, rail and transportation operations, the ammunition supply point and food service.

He noted that he simultaneously works for multiple bosses; the Army Sustainment Command, the 407th Army Field Support Brigade and the Fort Carson senior mission commander. Come October, when the battalion assumes full responsibility for command and control operations of the DOL on the mountain post, he will answer to yet another boss, the garrison commander.

"Army Field Support Battalions are unique units, with an ever-growing presence not only at Fort Carson, but at all other major FORSCOM installations," he said.

The Army Field Support Battalion is comprised of about 1,200 personnel; seven Soldiers and the rest are Department of the Army civilians and contractors.