MANNHEIM, Germany –
The Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite team hosted Mannheim Lord Mayor Christian Specht at the site March 15 to help build and foster relationships and provide the Lord Mayor with a clear understanding of APS-2 operations there as well as critical insight into the upcoming infrastructure upgrades and the associated economic, environmental and social impacts on the area.
Senior leaders from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade’s Army Field Support Battalion-Poland and U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz met with the Lord Mayor at the worksite and provided him with a windshield and walking tour of the site and the facilities.
Present was the AFSBn-Poland command team, Lt. Col. Omar McKen and Sgt. Maj. Olimpia Valdez, as well as the Coleman worksite manager for AFSBn-Poland, Herb Gately, the Coleman site manager for USAG Rheinland-Pfalz, Micah Fields, the deputy to the USAG Rheinland-Pfalz commander, Paul Hossenlopp, and more.
"We were so glad to host Lord Mayor Specht at our site. The Coleman worksite is a part of the Mannheim community, and they’re our friends and neighbors. It's important that we continue to build and foster those important relationships,” said McKen.
During the worksite tour Specht was able to see first-hand the APS-2 operations being conducted there and gain valuable insight into the upcoming construction plans. In addition, Specht and Hossenlopp signed a mutual emergency support memorandum of understanding, solidifying the cooperative support between the Coleman APS-2 worksite fire department and the city of Mannheim fire department.
The Coleman APS-2 worksite visit was another step in a long-standing, well-maintained relationship between the team at the Coleman worksite and the city of Mannheim. Two years ago, almost to the day, the command team from the 405th AFSB and commander at the Coleman APS-2 worksite visited the Lord Mayor’s office at the Mannheim City Hall. During the visit, the 405th AFSB commander presented the Mannheim Lord Mayor with a token of appreciation on behalf of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s commanding general.
The cooperation and mutual confidence between the city of Mannheim, the Lord Mayor himself, the 405th AFSB and USAG Rheinland-Pfalz continues to strengthen thanks to opportunities like these, said McKen.
In January, the director of Global Posture Policy from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Dorothy Ohl, visited the Coleman APS-2 worksite, which is located on a former Army airfield, to get a firsthand visualization of what the future infrastructure at the site is expected to look like and discuss infrastructure investment planning, there.
In August 2021, U.S. Army Europe and Africa announced that it will retain the Coleman worksite, which was previously scheduled to be returned to the German government. As part of the 405th AFSB’s regional alignment and transformation initiative, Army Field Support Battalion-Germany is set to assume mission command of the Coleman APS-2 worksite later this year, and AFSBn-Poland will move operations to Powidz, Poland, where the newly completed Long Term Equipment Storage and Maintenance-Complex is located.
The Coleman worksite and the LTESM-C in Poland are two of six APS-2 sites in Europe under the mission command of the 405th AFSB. Besides Mannheim and Powidz, there are APS-2 sites in Dülmen, Germany; Eygelshoven, Netherlands; Zutendaal, Belgium; and Livorno, Italy.
The 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program provides turn-key power projection packages ready to deploy at a moment’s notice while helping to reduce the amount of equipment needed from the deploying forces’ home stations. APS-2 sites help reduce deployment timelines, improve deterrence capabilities and provide additional combat power for contingency operations. APS-2 equipment may also be drawn for use in training and exercises.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The brigade 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.