Courtesy Photo | Suzanne Ryan is the battalion engineer for Army Field Support Battalion-Africa at...... read more read more
LIVORNO, Italy – When Suzanne Ryan was a little girl, her father was stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. While there, he took Ryan and her family on a short vacation to Livorno and Pisa, Italy.
Years later, when Ryan was looking for job opportunities with the U.S. government, she ran across an announcement for an Army job in Livorno with the 405th Army Field Support Brigade’s Battalion Africa. Ryan said she didn’t think she had a chance but applied anyway.
To her surprise, the Montana State University graduate with a degree in construction engineering was hired, and this week – which also happens to be National Engineers Week – she celebrates her first month as the Army Field Support Battalion-Africa engineer at Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno.
“It’s good there’s an entire week dedicated to recognizing engineers. A lot of the work we do is behind the scenes so to have a nationally recognized week just for us is really nice,” said Ryan, whose last job before moving to Italy was development review engineer with the city of Bozeman, Montana.
“The educational requirements to become an engineer are very tough, but I’m glad I chose this field. In my family there’s a lot of engineers, including my dad who was a bio environmental engineer with the Air Force for over 25 years,” Ryan said.
Ryan, who also worked for the Montana Department of Transportation for 10 years, said the impacts engineers have on the environment, the communities they support, and government organizations like the state of Montana and the Army are huge.
“It’s very rewarding, being an engineer. There are projects I was involved in that have made direct impacts on people’s lives. I can drive over a bridge in Montana and be like, I helped build this,” she said.
National Engineers Week Feb. 16-22 promotes educational and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and celebrates how engineers make a difference. The Army marks the event by highlighting engineers’ achievements, engaging with educational and community groups and participating in various STEM outreach programs and events.
Ryan said accepting the position as battalion engineer with AFSBn-Africa during the Army’s year-long 250th birthday celebration is exciting. Her dad was a West Point graduate, and before the Air Force he was also an Army officer for about five years. Following his footsteps and now working for the Army, herself, is special, she added.
“It’s really cool for me to now be working as an Army civilian, seeing and understanding more about how the Army works and all the important things the Army does in defense of our country and for the benefit of so many people around the world. To begin my career with the Army on the year the Army celebrates its 250th birthday is very special. Happy birthday, U.S. Army!” she said.
AFSBn-Africa is one of four battalions under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. AFSBn-Africa is charged with receiving, maintaining, and storing Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 at Leghorn Army Depot, which includes 16 warehouses with 749,000 square feet of humidity-controlled storage space plus four maintenance facilities as well as 1.5 million square feet of outside storage.
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 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: | 02.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.20.2025 04:32 |
| Story ID: | 491093 |
| Location: | LIVORNO, IT |
| Hometown: | BOZEMAN, MONTANA, US |
| Web Views: | 43 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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