Name: Charles Hillyer
Job title: Operations Officer
Assigned: Logistics Readiness Center Bavaria, 405th Army Field Support Brigade
Location: Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany
Experience: I’ve been working at LRC Bavaria for about four years. Before that I was assigned to LRC Fort Carson for one year where I worked as an equipment specialist.
Other service: I’m a retired logistics and maintenance Chief Warrant Officer 4 with 24 years of active duty service.
Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida
Family: I’ve been married for 21 years to my wife, Bettina, and we have two twin boys who are 11 years old – Alexander and Maximilian.
Q: Can you explain what you do and what you are responsible for at LRC Bavaria?
A: What I do is similar to being an executive officer for a battalion. My responsibilities are day-to-day operations. Whenever there is an in-flux or out-flux of taskers, operations orders or fragmentary orders – whether it be for transportation, Central Issue Facility, or the other directorates, agencies and store fronts – I have to staff all those products, filter them and be sure they get to the right people at the right time. And I also create deadlines to get the information back on time and in the right format. From there, I’ll send it back to either brigade, U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria, U.S. Army Installation Management Command Europe or sometimes U.S. Army Sustainment Command – wherever it needs to go. Beyond that, there are the additional duty requirements like antiterrorism officer, emergency management officer and physical security officer, which are all part of my bucket. Specific to LRC Bavaria, we have liaison officers for Hohenfels and Garmisch. I assist these LNOs by ensuring the information that moves to and from them to LRC Bavaria is succinct and easily understood.
Q: Why is the service LRC Bavaria provides to the USAG Bavaria community so important?
A: First and foremost, we support the warfighters. That is 100 percent our function – to be sure the warfighters can do their jobs, and that’s defend the best interests of the United States and our Allied and partner nations. In the USAG Bavaria footprint, we have elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the 41st Field Artillery Brigade and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment so you’re talking about three of the major heavy hitters for U.S. Army Europe and Africa right here. We support them with things like Central Issue Facility operations, food service operations, subsistence support, supply operations, transportation, non-tactical vehicle support, bus support and more. For example, when it comes to our transportation mission, 37 percent of all the moves in and out of Europe are handled by LRC Bavaria. Besides the moves here in Germany, we deal with Poland and Romania and Greece and even Norway as well as everything in between. That’s a significant number of transportation moves that we are responsible for handling.
Q: What do you enjoy about your job, and what motivates you?
A: I think it’s a part of me. After being on active duty for 24 years, I actually did go corporate for a short while when I retired. I worked for Comcast Cable Communications, LLC as a project manager. But when I got the call to come back to the Army and work at LRC Fort Carson, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to go back to the Army because it’s what I do best. Because I was a Soldier, I think it’s easy for me to provide a service to Soldiers because I know where they come from – I was one of them.
LRC Bavaria and 405th AFSB: LRC Bavaria is one of seven LRCs under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. LRCs execute installation logistics support and services to include supply, maintenance, transportation and food service management as well as clothing issue facility operations, hazardous material management, personal property and household goods, passenger travel, and non-tactical vehicle and garrison equipment management. When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Bavaria directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Bavaria. LRC Bavaria reports to the 405th AFSB, which is assigned to ASC 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.