KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Not only is the 405th Army Field Support Brigade outfitting an entire armored brigade combat team being deployed to Europe from the United States with a full complement of Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 equipment and vehicles — the 405th AFSB is also providing vital life support to U.S. forces at multiple locations across Europe.
Using its Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, the 405th AFSB has established life support operations for thousands of U.S.-based Soldiers deployed to Europe. Locations where LOGCAP is providing sleeping facilities, showers, latrines, dining facilities and more include Mielec and Zamość in Poland, Mihail Kogalniceanu in Romania, Wiesbaden and Ansbach in Germany, and Zutendaal and Brunssum in Belgium.
In Mielec, a full-service life support area with a maximum support capacity of about 3,000 personnel has been established, thanks to LOGCAP contracts under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. This includes sleeping tents and beds plus lighting, electrical outlets and heating. Also included are two dining facilities and more than 50 large passenger buses operating seven days a week — plus latrines, shower facilities and more. There are also administration tents and warming tents to support the mission.
“The same day elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps were given their deployment notification, LOGCAP was told to establish a contract to support about 5,000 personnel,” said Mike Johnson, LOGCAP senior planner for Europe, 405th AFSB. “Within seven days, we had the tents with heating and electricity, plus latrines and showers, up and running.”
“That’s our niche. When no notice requirements come up, we can execute very quickly,” Johnson said.
In Zamość, LOGCAP support has been established to accommodate about 2,000 personnel. There, LOGCAP was able to set up shelter tents and heaters within 48 hours “to get the Soldiers out of the cold, rain and snow,” said Johnson. Zamość is located in a very remote area, which brought with it its own problem set, Johnson said, but LOGCAP was able to erect a full set of shelters with lighting, electrical outlets and heating — plus showers and latrines — in seven or eight days.
In Mihail Kogalniceanu, Romania, a combined LOGCAP and garrison support plan is in place to accommodate another 2,800 personnel. In addition, LOGCAP is set up to support a few hundred more personnel in places like Wiesbaden, Ansbach, Zutendaal, Brunssum and other locations.
With contracting partners regionally aligned to the geographic combatant commands, the relationship LOGCAP has with these existing contractors helps to build capacity very quickly, said Johnson, way more quickly than starting from scratch.
“This is the same contract being leveraged to support the U.S. rotational forces to Poland — new locations but the same type of support and same LOGCAP mission so we only had to increase the capacity of the contract to accommodate the deploying U.S. forces,” Johnson said.
During a recent LOGCAP executive level summit held at Rock Island, Illinois, Feb. 22-23, U.S. Army Materiel Command’s commanding general, Gen. Ed Daly, emphasized that LOGCAP remains the contracted capability of choice for the Army and multiple joint partners for emergent and contingency operations.
Current LOGCAP support to thousands of deployed U.S. forces in Europe demonstrates this as well as the viability of LOGCAP’s contracting partners and the total team’s ability to support the United States’ strong and unremitting commitment to stand side-by-side with its Allies and partners to ensure the independence and security of Europe.
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 AMC’s materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website and the official Facebook page.
(Some information for this article came from an Army news article produced by Jon Connor on March 4, 2022)
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