MAINZ-KASTEL, Germany – Every day, the two brothers carpool together, driving 50-kilometers one-way from their hometown of Bad Kreuznach to their workplace at Mainz-Kastel. At the warehouse, their workstations are just 20 feet apart, and their job duties are the same. They’re both supply clerks and truck drivers, and they’ve been working side-by-side together for 15 years.
Andy and Bernd Hulsey are German local national employees with Logistics Readiness Center Wiesbaden, 405th Army Field Support Brigade. Andy took his first job with the U.S. Army in 1999, and Bernd started in 1991. Combined, they have over 57 years working for the Army. And it’s no surprise they chose to work there. The man who adopted them when they were 6 and 11 was a career American Soldier.
Andy and Bernd’s father retired as a first sergeant. His last job was as an ROTC instructor in the Miami area, but just like his two sons now – he was a career supply clerk with the Army. He met their mother in Bad Kreuznach in 1977 when he was stationed there and adopted Andy and Bernd a year or two later at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he was stationed and they lived as a new family.
Andy and Bernd will be the first to admit their admiration for their adoptive father is deep-seated and passionate. They, of course, had their bumps along the road, but respect and love are the two words that best describe their feelings for their father, who passed away at the age of 49 after suffering life-long health issues directly attributed to service in Vietnam. He was shot two times in combat, had a lung removed in emergency surgery on the battlefield and was likely also exposed to Agent Orange poisoning during his tour, there.
It’s no wonder Andy and Bernd have such a deep-rooted respect for Soldiers and a passion for supporting them and their families. As LRC Wiesbaden supply clerks and licensed truck drivers, they are responsible for the delivery of equipment and various other items to multiple organizations and units within the U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden footprint. They often will also pick up life-cycle replacement items from their customers when the customers are unable to bring the items to the warehouse where Andy and Bernd work.
“We work directly with our supervisor, Ms. Narinder Dhiman, the installation property book officer,” said Andy. “It’s really a variety of stuff that we do each day. They call us for everything, and we help out wherever and however we can.”
“We also have to schedule appointments with our customers and enter that information into the computer system,” Andy said. “And we work directly with our PBO coworkers who manage all the hand receipts and input all the data.”
For the two brothers who work so close together – carpooling to work, often making deliveries together and working side-by-side in the warehouse every day – it’s exactly what one might expect, said Bernd.
“A lot of people ask me what it’s like working with my brother. I mean, our workstations are six meters apart,” said Bernd who turned 58 last week and is five years older than Andy. “We get along pretty good so it works out. Just on the weekends, we don’t see each other that often.”
Andy agrees. He said because he and Bernd spend so much time together at work and on their daily commutes where there’s often traffic delays, they spend less time together then they used to when their mother was alive and the whole family would meet up for celebrations and holidays. But every so often, still, Andy said he’ll go over to his brother’s house and hang out in his garden, especially on nice summer days.
“Nowadays, if we see each other when we’re not at work it’s probably in his garden,” said Andy, who’s 53 and has been married to his wife and the mother of his 21-year-old son for 23 years.
Bernd, who didn’t get married until he was 50, said he was the last sibling in his family to tie the knot. Bernd and Andy have another brother and two sisters. Plus, they have a stepbrother and stepsister on their biological father’s side of the family.
“My real dad talked to me like eight or nine years ago and said, ‘boy, you're the only one who hasn't gotten married yet.’ But he was there when I did get married,” Bernd said. “My beautiful new bride and I flew away on vacation after the wedding and were laying in the sand with the seashells when he died so I guess I did everything right.”
As a career Soldier and someone they also really looked up to, the one thing Andy and Bernd said they wished their adoptive father was able to see was their employment with the Army.
“The only thing my daddy used to always say was try to get in the [Army] system, and I always tried but didn’t get the chance for many years, so I drove a cab, did construction and worked in a dental office,” Bernd said. “In 1991, soon after he died, I received a job offer and started working for the Army. It’s too bad he didn’t know this. I only hope he knows from above.”
The LRC Wiesbaden installation property book office, or IPBO, where Andy and Bernd work is responsible for managing the accountability of about $30 million worth of property and equipment assigned to USAG Wiesbaden, U.S. Army Installation Management Command-Europe headquarters and LRC Wiesbaden. There are more than 70 hand receipt holders IPBO personnel assist with their property book needs – things like computer systems, printers and other office equipment as well as non-tactical vehicles and emergency vehicles, firetrucks, and more.
LRC Wiesbaden is one of eight LRCs under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. LRCs execute installation logistics support and services to include supply, maintenance, transportation and food service management as well as clothing issue facility operations, hazardous material management, personal property and household goods, passenger travel, non-tactical vehicle and garrison equipment management, and property book operations. When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Wiesbaden directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Wiesbaden.
LRC Wiesbaden reports to the 405th AFSB, which is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The brigade provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. Forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging U.S. Army Materiel Command’s materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website and the official Facebook site.
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