Courtesy Photo | Paul Davis is the transportation motor pool chief at Logistics Readiness Center...... read more read more
CHIÈVRES AIR BASE, Belgium – Paul Davis is retiring in a couple of weeks. While that’s certainly a landmark achievement and a reason to celebrate, for Davis it’s doubly distinctive considering he’s retiring after serving two full military careers for two separate nations.
Davis, the chief of three transportation motor pools serving multiple installations across three countries, is a retired flight sergeant in England’s Royal Air Force, and on Dec. 20 he’ll be a retired U.S. Army local national employee with Logistics Readiness Center Benelux, 405th Army Field Support Brigade.
The supervisory transportation operations specialist and TMP chief has served a total of 49 years – 23 years with England’s Royal Air Force and 26 more with the U.S. Army. He said he’s proud of his service but even more proud of the people he’s worked with over the years.
“It’s been a fantastic adventure. I am very proud of my team, I’m very proud to be working here, and I’m very proud of my job,” said Davis. “People talk about chapters of life, but for me it’s books of life. One book was the Royal Air Force, my second book was with the U.S. Army, and I’m about to start my third book, which is my retirement.”
Davis said he was lucky to quickly transition from the British forces to the U.S. military following his retirement from the Royal Air Force in 1998. His family was living in Belgium when he retired. His wife and daughter were settled there in Mons while he was off serving in places like the Middle East, the Falklands, former Yugoslavia, and Laarbruch, Germany, his last assignment before retirement.
He said he thought it best to go to them and look for work there versus uprooting them and making them move. When he landed a job with the U.S. Army working for the garrison’s Directorate of Public Works at Chièvres Air Base – right next to Mons where they lived – and just two months after his retirement with the RAF, he was ecstatic.
Davis first worked at DPW for two years. Then, he worked at the Directorate of Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation for four more years before accepting the position he’s in now. For the past 19 years, he’s been the TMP chief, he said.
He said he’s seen command teams and leaders come and go over the years, but the mission has always remained the same – to support the Soldiers, Families and community members within the U.S. Army Garrison Benelux footprint. Davis said he’s able to do that only with the support of his team.
Davis has 12 team members working at the Chièvres TMP, three team members at the TMP serving NATO at Brussels, Belgium, and three team members at the TMP in Brunssum, Netherlands, responsible for supporting the Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksites in Eygleshoven, Netherlands; Zutendaal, Belgium; and Dülmen, Germany. He has bus drivers, dispatchers, operations assistants, and team leads. He said they all do fantastic work for their installations and supported organizations.
“It’s been a great experience working here in the Benelux with the LRC and the garrison team. We’ve been a very good team together. I always say when a commander comes here ‘welcome to the best TMP in Europe’ because I do believe my team here in the Benelux is special and the very best,” he said.
LRC Benelux 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, and transportation 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 Benelux directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Benelux.
LRC Benelux 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 at www.afsbeurope.army.mil and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com/405thAFSB.
| Date Taken: | 12.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.04.2024 06:39 |
| Story ID: | 486547 |
| Location: | CHIEVRES, BE |
| Web Views: | 41 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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