DÜLMEN, Germany –
In the mid ‘90s when Darren Ratcliff was a company first sergeant with the 147th Maintenance Company in Kitzinger, Germany, his company commander was then Capt. Ed Daly.
Daly would go on to serve for 36 years and retire as the 20th commanding general of U.S. Army Materiel Command, and Ratcliff would continue serving, too. But after 26 years as a Soldier – culminating with stint as a command sergeant major in Korea – Ratcliff would retire and transition to the civilian side of the house.
For the past 12 years he’s been a valued civilian employee on the total Army team, and now he’s the director of maintenance at the Dülmen Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
“I have a great sense of pride in my family and a great sense of pride in my service with the U.S. Army, both as a Soldier and as a civilian,” said the father of two and grandfather of one who’s been married to his wife from the Dominican Republic for nearly 33 years.
“With an understanding that the coaching and mentorship I provided during my tenure helped guide young Soldiers and leaders with their decisions and their career paths – not unlike General Daly who retired a couple of years ago as a four-star general – I am very proud of the leadership and influence I provided,” said Ratcliff, who is 64-years-old and calls New Orleans his home.
At the Dülmen APS-2 worksite, too, Ratcliff provides a lot of influence and leadership. His team at the directorate of maintenance, Army Field Support Battalion-Germany, is responsible for overseeing a contracted workforce of about 100 personnel who conduct scheduled and un-scheduled maintenance on nearly 7,000 APS-2 major end items – everything from light-wheeled vehicles and artillery pieces to ammunition carriers and armored vehicles, plus more.
“Given that Dülmen is a small remote site far away from the battalion and brigade flagpoles, it can be challenging,” Ratcliff said. “We definitely have to come up with unique approaches and creative ways of thinking on how we operate and how we get things done.”
Lucky for Ratcliff and his team, the contracted workforce there is very good at what they do, he said. They have been operating at the Dülmen worksite for nearly a decade. With all the systems and processes in place – plus all their experience – “we have a very efficient workflow and a good business model.”
But it’s not without challenges, Ratcliff added. Earlier this year – due to a funding issue that in the end was ultimately resolved – “all the services and everything we were initially told to cease and desist were turned back on, so now we’re currently playing catch up and it’s kind of chaotic at the moment.”
Dülmen itself can be challenging, too, said Ratcliff, but also unique and interesting. Unlike his six previous tours in Germany – four as a Soldier and two as an Army civilian – according to Ratcliff it’s nice being totally immersed into the local German lifestyle and culture.
“Before now, I’ve spent a lot of time in Germany, but none of those times apply to this site. We don’t have the facilities or the support we would normally have at other duty locations in Germany and across Europe. Something as simple as finding suitable housing or working with a utility company or a landlord is unique and often very challenging,” said Ratcliff.
“In fact,” Ratcliff said, “right now we’re working with U.S. Army Garrison Benelux and developing an onboarding process for Dülmen that better suits us here versus the standard onboarding processes used at most other Army installations across Europe.”
The Dülmen APS-2 worksite – comprised of about 140,000 square feet of hardstand space and approximately 480,000 square feet of humidity-controlled warehouse space with an additional 140,000 square feet of storage in the maintenance and storage swing space areas – is under the mission command of AFSBn-Germany, 405th Army Field Support Brigade. APS-2 sites like Dülmen help reduce deployment timelines, improve deterrence capabilities and provide additional combat power for contingency operations.
The 405th AFSB is the premier logistics integrator and synchronizer for U.S. European Command, enabling readiness solutions to ‘Support the Warrior’ by operationalizing U.S. Army Materiel Command capabilities and delivering readiness within the U.S. Army Europe and Africa areas of responsibility at the points of need.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging AMC’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.