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NEWS | Jan. 31, 2022

Fort Hood Cavalry unit provides valued support to APS-2 worksite in the Netherlands

By Cameron Porter 405th Army Field Support Brigade

The team at Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux, 405th Army Field Support Brigade, received some valued support at their Army Prepositioned Stock-2 worksite in Eygelshoven recently – all the way from Fort Hood, Texas.

The Fort Hood unit is part of the Army’s Regionally Aligned Forces, supporting U.S. Army Europe and Africa on a rotational basis. Attached to the 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command while in Europe, eight Soldier mechanics from B Company, 553rd Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division Sustainment Brigade, traveled to Eygelshoven and worked at the APS-2 site there for nearly two weeks.

These Soldiers assisted with the completion of 127 quality assurance inspections, 76 radio inspections and four inventories of shop equipment. In addition, they successfully repaired eight deadlined vehicles, returning them to fully mission capable, and they brought 106 pieces of equipment up to code by installing the necessary safety devices, stated AFSBn-Benelux Commander Lt. Col. Aaron Jones in an award recommendation recognizing the Cavalry maintainers’ valued support to the APS-2 site and the 405th AFSB mission.

“Even though they were here for only a short period of time, less than two weeks, it was very good to have them here supporting us,” said Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Ortiz, noncommissioned officer in charge of maintenance at the APS-2 worksite in Eygelshoven.

Some of the Dutch Ministry of Defense mechanics working at the site here are kind of new, said Ortiz. These 1st Cavalry Soldier mechanics were able to provide the DMOD mechanics with some highly valuable cross training and knowledge.

“For example, the generator mechanics showed our DMOD mechanics some tricks of the trade – little nuances they’ve gained through experience and deployments that’s not necessarily written in the manuals,” Ortiz said, “and they helped diagnose, troubleshoot and repair some vehicle issues our Dutch mechanics were having trouble with.”

The RAF program provides combatant commanders with tailored, scalable, responsive and consistently available Army forces. Since April 2014, U.S. Army Europe and Africa has led the Department of Defense’s Atlantic Resolve land efforts by rotating units based in the U.S. to Europe. There are four types of U.S. Army Atlantic Resolve rotations – armored, aviation, sustainment task force and division headquarters. Rotational units conduct bilateral, joint and multinational training events across more than a dozen countries. To learn more about Atlantic Resolve, visit www.europeafrica.army.mil/AtlanticResolve.

Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux is one of the four battalions under the command and control of the 405th AFSB and is headquartered at Eygelshoven, Netherlands. The battalion is charged with providing and coordinating receipt, transfer, storage and maintenance of APS-2 vehicles and equipment. This enables commanders to conduct unified action and perform a full range of military operations in support of U.S. Army Europe and Africa.

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 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.