Former British air force, now APS-2 quality assurance supports DEFENDER 24

DÜLMEN, Germany – When Shaun Jones was a young man in Wales, never would he have imagined that someday he’d be working for the U.S. Army and supporting the Army’s biggest exercise in Europe, but that’s exactly what the logistics management specialist at the Dülmen Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite is doing.

Since September of last year, Jones has worked as a local national employee with the 405th Army Field Support Brigade’s Germany Battalion at the Dülmen APS-2 worksite doing quality assurance work. Prior to that, for over three years he was a contractor at Dülmen. Today, he’s a vital member of the team who helped issue an APS-2 32-bed field hospital to an Army Reserve hospital unit participating in DEFENDER 24, including all the vehicles and equipment needed to transport it and operate it.

“I saw the job as a new opportunity and a new challenge,” said the 37-year-old former airman with the British air force. “It’s a new role so I saw it as a new door to open and another way to develop my skills.”

Accepting the local national position with the U.S. Army also provides him with more stability and a more permanent position, said Jones, who has a German girlfriend that grew up about an hour from Dülmen and now lives with him near the worksite.

Recently, Jones and his team from Dülmen prepared and issued an APS-2 field hospital for DEFENDER 24, which is the largest Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations. Jones said he and his team were excited to take part in the DEFENDER 24 APS-2 mission.

“To begin with and prior to the exercise start, we were checking all the equipment and the basic issue items to ensure they were all at a serviceable standard,” said Jones. “It’s all about meeting the guidelines in the technical manuals and collaborating with the contracted workforce to make sure we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet before it’s packaged and 100 percent ready to support the exercise.”

Day-to-day, as a logistics management specialist in quality assurance, Jones said he’s responsible for conducting walkthroughs of the site and performing surveillance on all the APS-2 equipment, there. He works with the contracted workforce at Dülmen, especially quality control, to ensure every APS-2 equipment piece and tactical vehicle – as well as all the corresponding basic issue items for each major equipment piece – are stored and maintained in accordance with the performance work statement.

When it comes to building readiness at Dülmen, the performance work statement, or PWS, “is basically our bible,” said Jones, whose hometown is Porthmadog, Wales.

Jones served 12 years in the British air force in logistics. In addition, he worked in Saudi Arabia as a British contractor with the Saudi air force doing supply chain management and cargo management. On top of that, he worked at Dülmen managing fuel distribution and consumption as a contractor before accepting a position with Germany Battalion in quality assurance.

“Collaboration wise, the contractor [at Dülmen] has their own quality control. They'll do the physical sites where they'll make sure everything is in order and correct, and then on the quality assurance side, I do the process evaluations and provide oversight and guidance as required,” Jones said.

The Dülmen worksite supports the 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program and is comprised of about 140,000 square feet of hardstand space and approximately 480,000 square feet of humidity-controlled warehouse space with an additional 140,000 square feet of storage in the maintenance and storage swing space areas.

The 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program enhances U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s readiness and capability to support the warfighter while simultaneously promoting stability and security in the region. APS-2 equipment may also be drawn for use in training and exercises, like DEFENDER 24.

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 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.