ANSBACH, Germany –
Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad. Nicole Meyer understands this as well as anyone. Her dad was so dear to her and provided her so much inspiration, Meyer followed his footsteps and built the foundation of her own career around his.
Her dad, Josef Meyer, worked as a food service specialist and cook for 35 years at the 3rd Infantry Division’s Harvey Barracks in Kitzingen, Germany. During that time working for the U.S. Army, the German local national employee cooked for hundreds of thousands of American Soldiers.
As a local national employee, herself, Meyer now has 20 years with the Army, and for her first 14 years she, too, was a food service worker helping to feed thousands of U.S. Soldiers. First working at an Army dining facility in Schweinfurt for 10 years and then four more in Illesheim after Schweinfurt closed, Meyer now works as the vehicle maintenance clerk with Logistics Readiness Center Ansbach on Barton Barracks.
As a clerk at the transportation motor pool office in Ansbach, Meyer is responsible for managing the maintenance schedules for all the non-tactical vehicles supporting the U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach community.
This includes creating reports and updating the units when their TMP vehicles require periodic services. And when the maintenance on their vehicles is complete, she contacts the units for pickup and re-dispatch. In addition, Meyer assists with accident reports and property loss investigations when any of the TMP vehicles she manages is involved in a collision, and she covers down for the TMP dispatchers when they need her assistance.
“I applied to work at the TMP office and took the job there after working at the Flight Line Cafe Warrior Restaurant in Illesheim for several years,” Meyer said. “The TMP job is considered a higher position so now I make a little more pay.”
“Besides that, food service is hard work. A food service worker works every day. They work on weekends, German holidays, and U.S. holidays, and they only get one of two days off during the week,” said the 49-year-old from Kitzingen, who has an apartment in Ansbach but goes home to her family on weekends and holidays.
Meyer said she respects all the food service workers, culinary specialists, and dining facility attendants across the Army. Having a dad who did it for 35 years and having worked in the business herself for 14, she said she easily empathizes with them.
The TMP office at LRC Ansbach where Meyer works now, employs about a dozen people. In addition to herself, there are seven bus drivers, two dispatchers, two transportation assistants, and a transportation specialist. They are responsible for about 380 non-tactical vehicles and several buses supporting the USAG Ansbach community, to include the rotational brigades stationed there, and more.
LRC Ansbach is one of eight LRCs under the command and control of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. 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, property book operations, and non-tactical vehicle and garrison equipment management. When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Ansbach directs, manages, and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Ansbach.
LRC Ansbach reports to the 405th AFSB, which is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The 405th AFSB 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.