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NEWS | Aug. 15, 2022

ASC top leader provides sage advice, direction during visit to APS-2 site in Mannheim

By Cameron Porter 405th Army Field Support Brigade

Army Field Support Battalion-Mannheim hosted U.S. Army Sustainment Command’s top leader at the battalion headquarters, Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite, in Mannheim, Aug. 12.

The commanding general of ASC, Maj. Gen. David Wilson, was greeted by leaders from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade and AFSBn-Mannheim at the APS-2 worksite and given an operations and capabilities briefing by the battalion command team and senior staff officers.

Discussed during the 2.5-hour briefing was AFSBn-Mannheim’s pivot to Poland mission where it will re-designate to AFSBn-Poland and assume mission command of the 405th AFSB’s newest APS-2 site currently under construction there with an expected completion time frame of summer 2023.

Also discussed during the briefing to ASC’s top leader was AFSBn-Mannheim’s current mission receiving an entire armored brigade’s worth of APS-2 vehicles and equipment sets back from 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and resetting all that APS-2 gear back to fully mission capable and ready for issue.

In February – for the first time in the brigade’s APS-2 program history – the 405th AFSB was tasked with outfitting an entire ABCT being deployed to Europe from the U.S. Now that the 1st ABCT is wrapping up its mission in Europe after six months and redeploying back to the states, it’s time to return all that APS-2 back to AFSBn-Mannheim and the Coleman APS-2 worksite.

During his visit, the ASC commanding general provided top-level sage advice and direction to the 405th AFSB and AFSBn-Mannheim on these two highly critical missions and other matters of importance as well as his leadership philosophy. Wilson used professional basketball coaching as an analogy, when it comes to the art of leadership.  

“Everybody wants to coach Michael Jordan, but somebody has to coach Dennis Rodman,” Wilson said. “We all get paid to coach Rodman.”

Wilson said at one point in his life he was diagnosed with Stage IV kidney cancer and given only 90 days to live…“so I’m blessed to get up and put on my boots and uniform every day,” he said.

“I am not going to spend one more day of my life counting time. I’m going to make my time count,” said Wilson who asked the teams at AFSBn-Mannheim and the 405th AFSB to also make their time count and put forth 100 percent effort every day.

“I’m going to run as hard as I can run, and that’s what I do each and every day,” said Wilson. “I’m going to give it my all. All I ask is that everybody on the team with me gives it their all, too.”

"We really appreciate Major General Wilson taking the time out of his travel schedule here in Europe to visit Army Field Support Battalion-Mannheim,” said Lt. Col. Brian Astwood, the commander of AFSBn-Mannheim. “We're taking the direction he provided as well as all the nuggets of information and advice, and implementing them into our operations immediately."

Wilson took command of ASC July 19. Prior to that he served as the commanding general of the 8th Theater Sustainment Command at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, and before that he was the 40th Chief of Ordnance and Commandant of the U.S. Army Ordnance School at Fort Lee, Virginia.

Battalion Mannheim, or AFSBn-Mannheim, is responsible for the storage, security, maintenance and issue of an ABCT’s worth of heavy armored vehicles and associated equipment as part of the 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program in Europe. Coleman's close proximity to the Autobahn as well as access to rail and barge loading facilities makes it an important element to U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s readiness posture.

The 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program provides turn-key power projection packages – ready to deploy at short notice – while helping to reduce the amount of equipment needed from the deploying forces’ home stations. The 405th AFSB 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.