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NEWS | Dec. 1, 2021

BASOPS Trans supervisor, aka Dragon, and his team feed the outbound transportation beast

By Cameron Porter 405th Army Field Support Brigade

Name: Dragon Ambridge-Adams

Job title: Outbound Transportation Supervisor

Assigned: Base Support Operations Transportation, 405th Army Field Support Brigade

Location: Kaiserslautern, Germany

Experience: I’ve been working at BASOPS Trans for nine years. I came to BASOPS Trans from 7th Medical Command in Heidelberg, Germany, where I worked as a budget technician for six years. Before that I worked at the 43rd Signal Battalion in Heidelberg as a phone switch center supervisor for 19 years.

Hometown: London, England

Family: I am married to my wife, Victoria, for almost 20 years.

Q: Can you explain your responsibilities as the outbound transportation supervisor at BASOPS Trans?

A: We have a team of 18 people, and we manage all the outbound shipments from Europe and beyond – so mainly Germany, Belgium and Italy – but we also cover places like the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, East Africa, and we’re in final negotiations now to add Jordan to that list. We manage all those shipments, which means we’re the middleman between the industry side and the government side. We have a great team of Army counselors who are the face-to-face contacts with the customers. They do a great job, and they forward that work to us to then interface with industry – to get the move booked, to make any needed changes, to check to ensure everything is the way it should be, to double check on entitlements and to fix any problems that occasionally arise. We are currently handling about 14,000 outbound shipments a year so there’s a lot happening and a lot of work to do – especially in high season there’s a lot of work to do, and a lot of problems to fix. I have a great team, and I’m very grateful to them. They take great pride in what they do for Soldiers and Families.

Q: Why is the BASOPS Trans mission supporting Permanent Change of Station moves so important?

A: I think the best people to answer that question are all the people who have PCSed from Europe back to the United States or to another duty station somewhere else. The people who have been through it at least once – they know how important it is. It’s a stressful time and a difficult time, and we’re grateful to facilitate that and make sure it goes smoothly. Here in Europe we are fortunate to have good partners on the industry side, and I think they get overlooked sometimes. The industry does a good job working with us – we’re more of a partnership than people realize. We’ve seen quite a few negatives in the press with shipping problems, over the last year in particular. I think some of this negative press kind of distorts the picture a little. By and far, most military families are receiving very good service here in Europe on the outbound side, and you can see that reflected in their comments and feedback. If things go wrong in shipping channels that’s beyond our control, but we do are very best to make sure everything goes as smoothly as it can.

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

A: The enjoyment for me comes from knowing what we provide our Soldiers and Families is important. You never really know what problem needs solving next so from one day to the next there is a lot of variety in the tasks. I know the Army likes the word facilitators, but that word does apply well to us. We’re not hands on, and we never actually see the property, but we very much do facilitate the moves and ensure everything goes smoothly. And I enjoy that. 

BASOPS Trans and 405th AFSB: With its Consolidated Personal Property Shipping Office and European Official Travel Branch, BASOPS Trans is a field operating activity under the 405th AFSB providing back office support functions for personal property shipping, official travel services and quality control disciplinary actions for Army communities in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and more. 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 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.