KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – The 405th Army Field Support Brigade’s workforce is one of the most diverse in the Army. A mixture of U.S. Army Soldiers and civilians plus a robust local national labor force from places like Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy – the 405th AFSB optimizes its strength through diversity with a “people first” mentality that has proven successful time and again.
A good example of this success is the brigade’s Army Field Support Battalion – Africa, headquartered at Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno, Italy.
Recently, AFSBn-Africa was charged with the task of re-painting dozens of military vehicles belonging to the 405th AFSB’s Army Prepositioned Stock-2. These vehicles are part of U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s power projection package, ready to be issued to deploying warfighters during contingency operations and times of war.
During the months of November and December – in record time – a team of Italian local national employees from AFSBn-Africa’s Directorate of Maintenance re-painted 36 vehicles at the Leghorn Army Depot, an astounding average production of five vehicles a week in just under 50 days.
“Most notable was the high level of workmanship produced by this team while completing the mission well ahead of schedule,” said Tom Fiori, the director of maintenance, AFSBn-Africa, 405th AFSB.
Vehicle paint operations are being completed in about half the expected time due to an innovative assembly line setup. This sage effort maximizes the flow through the paint booth and reduces downtime normally caused by switching between preparations, painting and stenciling.
Vehicles being painted include humvees, fuel tankers, military ambulances and semi-tractor-trailer trucks. All are being re-painted from desert tan to a tri-color camouflage.
“And the paint configuration change from desert tan to tri-color camouflage is a critical component of the APS-2 configure for combat initiative in support of U.S. Army Europe and Africa,” Fiori said.
But it’s always people first, and this time was no different. The small team of painters – all Italian local national employees with AFSBn-Africa – “are truly experts at their craft,” said Fiori. They are Leonardo Maccioni, Alessio Maenza, and team leader Simone Maenza. “Thanks to their dedicated efforts, the work went extremely well and the mission is expected to be completed early.”
The operations at AFSBn-Africa and the APS-2 are key support components of USAREUR-AF’s power projection and warfighter readiness missions. The 405th AFSB’s APS-2 provides turn-key power projection packages – ready to deploy at a moment’s notice – while helping to reduce the amount of equipment needed from the deploying forces’ home stations. Combatant commanders identify their APS requirements, and the 405th AFSB executes and then issues the equipment to the deploying warriors.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, USAREUR-AF. 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 materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website at www.afsbeurope.army.mil and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com/405thAFSB.
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