VICENZA, Italy –
When people visit her office at Logistics Readiness Center Italy, one of the first things they notice are all the U.S. flags. Working for the U.S. Army as an Italian local national employee for the past 21 years, it’s obvious she’s proud to serve.
“I'm really happy to work for the U.S. Army,” said Benedetta Guglielmi. “It’s been a dream of mine all my life.
“I love the U.S. flag, and I have U.S. flags everywhere in my office,” said Guglielmi, who was recently selected as the LRC Italy Employee of the Quarter, senior-grade category, 2nd Quarter, Fiscal Year 2023. “People who know me – whenever they travel – they find something with the U.S. flag on it and give it to me because they know I’m addicted. I love it so much.”
The LRC Italy maintenance operations specialist is responsible for preparing weekly, monthly and annual operations reports on work order turnaround times, repair parts expenditures and more. She also tracks labor hours and salaries, and she’s the billing official for her section. She’s also a Global Combat Support System-Army user. GCSS-Army focuses on property book actions, supply and logistics management operations, serving as a financial system of record for the Army.
But she’s only been doing this for about 2.5 years with LRC Italy, 405th Army Field Support Brigade. For 19 years she worked in finance, assisting with local national payroll. When asked why she left finance she says that’s a hard question.
“It was a very heavy period. During my last six years we were severely understaffed, so we were drained, pretty much,” Guglielmi said. “We were overwhelmed, and nobody cared or did anything to fix the situation.”
But at LRC Italy “there’s a reasonable workload. We have a good team and a good environment here so I'm really happy to be here,” she said.
The 46-year-old single mother of two boys said it was not an easy choice to leave her previous position and organization because she enjoyed working in finance and she enjoyed her coworkers. But in the end, she’s glad she did.
“Of course, over 19 years I gained a lot of experience in finance. Here, I had to start all over with a completely different kind of job where my coworkers talk about mechanical parts and pieces that go in vehicles,” Guglielmi said.
“It’s challenging,” she said. “I don't even recognize the mechanical parts for my own car so it’s very challenging. But I’m learning new things every day, and I have a good team who helps me. We work well together so I’m happy.”
As far as being selected as LRC Italy’s Employee of the Quarter, Guglielmi said she’s extremely proud and happy.
“Everybody is happy. They all congratulated me and told me I deserved it,” she said.
Guglielmi is proud of her achievement and proud to work for LRC Italy, 405th AFSB. And her U.S. flag collection at her office proves just how proud she is and just how much she loves working for the U.S. Army.
LRC Italy is one of eight LRCs under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. LRCs execute installation logistics support and services to include supply, maintenance, and transportation as well as clothing issue facility operations, hazardous material management, personal property and household goods, passenger travel, non-tactical vehicle and garrison equipment management, and property book operations. When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Italy directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of U.S. Army Garrison Italy.
LRC Italy 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.