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NEWS | Oct. 6, 2021

Zutendaal APS-2 maintenance director amazed by Belgium workforce knowledge

By Cameron Porter 405th Army Field Support Brigade

Name: Bill Bravo

Job title: Director of Maintenance

Assigned: Zutendaal Army Prepositioned Stock-2 worksite, Army Field Support Battalion Benelux, 405th Army Field Support Brigade

Location: Zutendaal, Belgium

Experience: I’ve only been here at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite for three months. I just came from Doha, Qatar, at APS-5 where I was the Deputy to the Commanding Officer for Army Field Support Battalion Qatar for 19 months. Previous to this I was at Logistics Readiness Center Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, where I served as Director on Maintenance for two years.

Other service: I served 22 years in the Army as a maintainer and logistician, retiring at the rank of first sergeant.

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

Family: I have been married for 25 years to my wife, Evelyn, and we have a son and a daughter – Carlos who 23 and Stephanie who is 21.

Q: Can you explain what you do and what you are responsible for at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite?

A: I direct the maintenance operation for the entire worksite. I have seven maintenance shops – for example light-wheeled vehicles, medium-wheeled vehicles, heavy-wheeled vehicles, allied trades and ground support equipment. I’m responsible for the daily operations, for the throughput of our workshops, for planning production control, and for understanding our manpower and what we are capable of supporting.

Q: Why is your team’s work at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite so important?

A: We are force enablers. Our job as maintainers is to put all this APS-2 equipment into a maintenance cycle to ensure every vehicle and every piece of equipment remains fully operational and mission capable – normally a two-year cycle based on conditions here at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite. It’s all about readiness.

Q: What do you enjoy about your job, and what motivates you?

A: I am impressed every single day by our host nation workforce – what they’re capable of and how quickly they learn and understand things. We just fielded the new Global Combat Support System, and I am amazed at how fast we have come in such a short amount of time. The level of understanding that our host nation Belgium workforce brings to the table every day – they make me want to come to work.

APS-2 Program and the 405th AFSB: The APS-2 program is a key component of U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s power projection and warfighter readiness missions. The 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program provides turn-key power projection packages – ready to deploy at a moment’s notice – while helping to reduce the amount of equipment needed from the deploying forces’ home stations. Combatant commanders identify their APS-2 requirements, and the 405th AFSB executes and then issues the equipment to the deploying warfighters.

The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and 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’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.