LIVORNO, Italy – Having worked in the Army Prepositioned Stocks business for 27 years straight, Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno is the supply officer’s third APS worksite, and Army Field Support Battalion-Africa is his third battalion under the 405th Army Field Support Brigade in five years.
Dan Gwinn was first assigned to Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux in Eygelshoven, Netherlands, from November 2018 to September 2020. Next, he was assigned to Army Field Support Battalion-Germany in Vilseck, Germany, from September 2020 to August 2022. And now he’s at AFSBn-Africa in Livorno since August 2022.
“I keep moving further and further south,” said Gwinn, who was a contractor with the APS program in the Republic of Korea for 10 years before becoming an Army civilian employee in 2007 and continuing to work in APS. “I keep trying to find warmer and warmer weather to ride my motorcycle, more.”
“Truthfully, I’m coming up on the end of my career. I’ll be 69 years old in September, so I think it’s pretty much time for me to call it a day,” said Gwinn, who was also a Soldier from 1974 to 1994 and retired as a master sergeant. “I’m planning to pull the plug at the end of this year, but it’s been a great ride.”
When he’s not riding his motorcycle or performing supply functions for AFSBn-Africa, Gwinn is prepping the next generation of APS professionals and passing on his nearly three decades of APS experience and knowledge. And having simultaneously served as the commander’s accountable officer in addition to his normal supply duties since September, Gwinn is now training a newly hired property book officer on his responsibilities.
This includes running inventories, issuing APS equipment to gaining tactical units and posting transactions in Global Combat Support System-Army, which serves as the property accountability and financial system of record for the Army, he said.
“I’ve been in the Army since I was 18 years old, so I’ve basically worked property accountability and supply from 18 to this day. It’s a long time. I don’t know what else I would do,” said Gwinn, who plans to retire in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, with his wife of 23 years and stay connected to the military by volunteering with Soldier and Army Family support organizations.
"I’m kind of hyperactive, and I have to stay busy. I like interacting with people, so it’s hard to leave, but I’m at the age now where it’s definitely time to enjoy a few years with my wife before I get to the point, you know, where I can’t do anything,” Gwinn said.
Gwinn is a vital member of the AFSBn-Africa team and will be missed when he retires, said Robert Saylor, AFSBn-Africa’s deputy to the commander.
“Mr. Gwinn is our S-4 [supply and logistics] but triple hatted as the accountable officer and the property book holder, and he’s making significant headway on the turn-in of excess items and training our new PBO,” Saylor said.
AFSBn-Africa is charged with receiving, maintaining, storing and issuing APS at Leghorn Army Depot as well as at locations forward – known as equipment configuration and handoff areas, or ECHAs. The battalion is also responsible for linking national logistics capabilities and providing logistics solutions to Army units and joint forces South of the Alps through U.S. Army Materiel Command’s Life Cycle Management Commands.
Organizations AFSBn-Africa directly supports – helping to enable readiness across two theaters of operations – are U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa, Southern European Task Force-Africa, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and other strategic partners and allies.
The 405th AFSB 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 the AMC 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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