LIVORNO, Italy – Right out of a Hollywood picture scene, a young Italian girl bumps into an American Soldier on a train in Rome on a chance encounter. He asks for her phone number and before she can hardly take a breath, he sweeps her off her feet and shortly thereafter they are married.
Despite an initial fiery romance met for the Hollywood red carpet, the marriage didn’t work out, but a life-long career working for the U.S. Army as an Italian host nation employee did. Now, Gianna Lisa Salvatori has 36 years of faithful and dedicated Army service.
The military and civilian resources specialist with Army Field Support Battalion-Africa said she’s responsible for planning and executing all the ceremonies for the battalion, and she manages the battalion awards program, military personnel actions, overseas tour extensions and rating schemes. And if that isn’t enough, she handles the recruitment and hiring for all the Army civilian personnel at her battalion.
Starting out at Supply Support Activity as a clerk for a short time and then working in resource management with U.S. Army Garrison Italy for five years and civilian personnel on Camp Darby for three, Salvatori finally found her niche at Leghorn Army Depot working in military and civilian resources and administration. And 28 years later, she’s still there, and she’s an incredibly valuable asset to AFSBn-Africa and the battalion’s Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 mission.
“I really like my job, and I have a lot of pride in my work,” said the dog mom of three who when not devoting her time to them focuses mostly on her work. “I try to do my very best at my job with no mistakes. I’m very attached to my work, and I like to help others. It’s my nature.”
When it comes to recruitment and hiring actions, for example, Salvatori works extremely hard to ensure the manning level at the battalion remains at or near 100 percent, despite a dynamic turnover of positions and employees coming and going on a regular basis.
The 62-year-old military and civilian resources expert said she will begin the recruitment process a full year ahead of an employee’s scheduled date of departure and send the hiring package to brigade for approval well in advance to start the recruitment action as soon as possible.
“I must prepare all the documentation for the deputy to the commander and the commander to review before sending it up to brigade. Once brigade approves it, then the civilian personnel office will prepare the job announcement, obtain a referral list, and from there additional actions are executed,” Salvatori said.
“When it comes to hiring, awards and other personnel actions, I’m the liaison between the battalion and the brigade,” she said.
AFSBn-Africa is charged with receiving, maintaining and storing APS-2 at Leghorn Army Depot. In addition, the battalion is well postured to issue APS-2 to gaining tactical units at locations forward – known as equipment configuration and handoff areas, or ECHAs. Organizations AFSBn-Africa directly support – 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.
AFSBn-Africa is one of four battalions under the mission command of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. 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.
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