Courtesy Photo | Duane Stevens, a Logistics Assistance Representatives from U.S. Army...... read more read more
VICENZA, Italy – As the main integrator for the 405th Army Field Support Brigade and U.S. Army Sustainment Command South of the Alps, Logistics Support Team-Africa is responsible for providing support to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa as well as joint forces across the continent.
Army Maj. Jeremy Evans, the LST-Africa chief, said his team is capable of doing that thanks to Logistics Assistance Representatives from U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command and U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, plus support from the Army’s Logistics Civil Augmentation Program.
Evans is assigned to the 405th AFSB’s Army Field Support Battalion-Africa and located in Vicenza, 3.5-hours away from his battalion headquarters in Livorno, Italy. He said his team includes himself and another Army officer, seven LARs and two LOGCAP Army civilians, plus three LOGCAP contractors. One of the LARs is from TACOM and the other six are CECOM.
“The main integration point for us is with Southern European Task Force, Africa,” Evans said. “This is our main customer. This coming January we’re going down to see Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa forces in Djibouti. That’s going to be the first time we’ll have both capabilities there, CECOM and TACOM LARs. And it’s been about a year-and-a-half project in the making to get there.”
Evans said LOGCAP supports about a dozen sites in more than a half a dozen countries on the continent of Africa with a holistic approach that includes proving the professionals and the contracting capabilities. At any time, these supported sites can be in either warm or active status. These sites are considered forward deployed posture points and can be used for training missions, diplomatic visits or real-world contingency operations, he said.
For the TACOM and CECOM LARs on Evans team, they have a different mission. They provide direct support to units like the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 207th Military Intelligence Brigade, for example. Much of their support to the continent of Africa is done via tele-maintenance, Evans said, but in January when he and his team visit Djibouti, this will be the first time they’ll have TACOM and CECOM LARs on the ground there, together.
Evans said he and the other LST-Africa officer stay integrated with SETAF-AF planners to support U.S. Africa Command for all the major exercises, events and real-world contingencies. They act as integrators and connected tissue between the organizations they support and the LARs and LOGCAP capabilities on their team.
As an example, one major contingency LST-Africa supported occurred right after Evans arrived and was assigned to the team. There was a coup d’etat in Niger in July of 2023, and Evans and his team were linked in and in support of the mission to withdraw U.S. forces there and preparation for possible Noncombatant Evacuation Operation, or NEO.
“Honestly, this job has been the most eye-opening job I’ve ever had,” Evans said. “One of the most interesting things I’ve done was a trip with some of my colleagues to the U.S. Embassy in Uganda where I had the opportunity to talk with U.S. Ambassador William Popp. We discussed the challenges they have, and our role and where we fit in with the site there and how we can assist.”
LARs are Army civilians serving around the world. Highly trained, they bring more than two dozen specialty skills to Army equipment readiness requirements. They are part of the U.S. Army Sustainment Command’s global network of Army Field Support Brigades and are linked to every echelon of the Army in the field.
LOGCAP is an Army strategic sourcing preferred source for base operations support and sustainment services. LOGCAP remains the contracted capability of choice for the Army and multiple joint partners for emergent and contingency operations. Currently, the 405th AFSB’s LOGCAP program supports thousands of deployed U.S. forces in Europe and Africa with base life support and more.
AFSBn-Africa is one of four battalions under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. AFSBn-Africa is charged with receiving, maintaining, storing and issuing Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 at Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno 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. That’s where Evans and his team from LST-Africa come in.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to ASC 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 U.S. Army Materiel Command 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: | 12.09.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2024 01:04 |
| Story ID: | 486969 |
| Location: | VICENZA, IT |
| Web Views: | 48 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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