Name: Diana Garland
Job title: Quality Assurance Supervisor and Customs Inspector
Assigned: Transportation Division, Logistics Readiness Center Stuttgart, 405th Army Field Support Brigade
Location: Panzer Kaserne, Germany
Experience: I’ve been working at LRC Stuttgart for almost 17 years. We used to be called the Directorate of Logistics when we reported directly to U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart, but now we’re LRC Stuttgart and fall under the 405th AFSB. I used to be a transportation counselor for about 12 or 13 years, and then I switched over to quality assurance.
Hometown: Stuttgart, Germany
Family: My husband’s name is Milton, and we’ve been married for 17 years. I met him when I started working at the transportation office. We have three children. Our oldest daughter, Marley, is 15, and our son, Silas, is 14. Our youngest daughter is 7, and her name is Leyla.
Q: Can you explain what you do and what you are responsible for as the LRC Stuttgart Quality Assurance Supervisor and Customs Inspector?
A: I have seven people on my team, and we’re the liaison between all the customers and all the moving companies. We make sure the moving companies pack out the customers the way they are supposed to, and we help to make sure everything goes smoothly. At the same time, we are required to inspect agricultural items, such as barbeque grills, lawn mowers, patio furniture and other outdoor items. If the customer brings a weapon to Germany or buys one here and ships it back to the U.S. we make sure all the paperwork is correct and the weapon is correctly packed by the moving company. We’re here to help the customers and guide them through the process.
Q: Why is the service you and your team provide to the Stuttgart military community so important?
A: It’s important for us that the customers are satisfied with their moving experience. We help to ensure their valuables and belongings don’t get damaged during the move, and if some items are damaged it’s important they get the right information on how to file a claim, where to submit the claim and what to do to get reimbursed. My husband was in military so I’ve changed duty stations a couple of times over the years. I can easily empathize with them. It’s important to me to help where I can because I’ve been in their same shoes.
Q: What do you enjoy about your job, and what motivates you?
A: The quality assurance team I supervise is a good mix between local national employees and Army civilians, and I enjoy that. We’re a great team. My local national employees and I are the continuity and the local knowledge base, and the Army civilians who rotate in and out every few years are the breath of fresh air with fresh ideas. I think it’s very important to have a good combination of U.S. civilian personnel and local national employees. Every department should have at least one local national, and every department should have at least one Army civilian. That important combination of U.S. and local national employees helps keep us all on our toes, helps us perform better as a team and helps make us more effective.
LRC Stuttgart and 405th AFSB: When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Stuttgart directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Stuttgart. LRC Stuttgart reports to the 405th AFSB, which 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.