Name: Joerg Weinmann
Job title: Transportation Motor Pool Supervisor
Assigned: Transportation Division, Logistics Readiness Center Wiesbaden, 405th Army Field Support Brigade
Location: Mainz-Kastel Station, Germany
Experience: I’ve been working for the U.S. Army for almost 40 years. I started in 1982 at the Giessen Army Depot as a mechanic. I also worked there as a privately owned vehicle inspector and then I moved over to the TMP. When Giessen Army Depot closed, I moved to the TMP at Mainz-Kastel where I worked as a transportation specialist for 10 years. For the past five years I’m the chief of the TMP.
Hometown: Niederkleen, Germany
Family: I’m married to my wife, Ilona, for 30 years, and we have a daughter, Laura, who is 30 years old and a psychologist and the manager of a hospital.
Q: Can you explain what you do and what you are responsible for at LRC Wiesbaden’s Transportation Motor Pool?
A: We maintain and operate a fleet of 310 non-tactical vehicles to include 296 government-leased vehicles and 15 Army-owned vehicles. We are also responsible for six large buses and four smaller buses used for the community shuttle service. In the moment, we are 15 employees – drivers, motor vehicle dispatchers and operations personnel – and I am the supervisor. We provide a community shuttle bus service and TMP dispatch service to the entire military community of U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden, supporting all the units and organizations in the USAG Wiesbaden area of responsibility. There two other TMP fleets in our community, one belonging to a signal command and the other to a medical commend, but those are micro fleets, and our TMP fleet is the biggest.
Q: Why is the service you and your team provide to the Wiesbaden military community so important?
A: We keep the Wiesbaden military community rolling – we keep our garrison on wheels and on the go. Our fleet of non-tactical vehicles is very important. We support Soldiers and Army civilians stationed here as well as others who are here on temporary duty for training or meetings or conferences. And the shuttle bus service we provide is especially important, also. Our buses transport the Soldiers to and from work, to and from the dining facilities, and to and from their barracks or the housing areas – back and forth. We try to help make their jobs and their lives a little easier by providing a vital and valuable transportation service.
Q: What do you enjoy about your job, and what motivates you?
A: I grew up in a small German town directly beside a big Army garrison where a lot of U.S. Soldiers were stationed at the time. I grew up with Americans, and I have always enjoyed being their neighbor and friend. Most of my family has worked for the U.S. Army over the years. My grandparents were refugees during World War II, and they came here with nothing. They had to flee Czechoslovakia following the war and when they arrived here in Germany, the German government gave them a little house and the U.S. Army gave them jobs. My grandmother was a waitress at an Army club on Ayers Kaserne in Kirch-Goens, my uncle was the club manager and my grandfather was a mechanic with the U.S. Army. I’m very proud to say I followed in their footsteps, and proud to have worked for the U.S. Army for 40 years. Also, I have a deep love for cars and motorcycles. Working as a mechanic and now motor pool supervisor with the Army perfectly aligns itself with one of my biggest passions – all things motorsports.
LRC Wiesbaden and 405th AFSB: When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Wiesbaden directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Wiesbaden. LRC Wiesbaden 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.