DVIDS – News – Dutch Ministry of Defense workforce at Eygelshoven hosts family day event at APS-2 site

EYGELSHOVEN, Netherlands – The team at the Eygelshoven Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in the Netherlands held a family day event recently at the worksite. Hosted by the Dutch Ministry of Defense workforce there, nearly 500 DMOD employees and their family members, as well as Soldiers and Army Civilians from Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux and their families, attended the event Oct. 13.

“It’s a great way to share our workspaces with our friends and families and help them see what it is we do all day every day and why we do it,” said Maj. Matt Hill, the AFSBn-Benelux executive officer. “On the downside, some of the children may now think ice cream is served in our maintenance bay” on a regular basis.”

Hill said it was a very enjoyable event that helped build esprit de corps amongst the Eygelshoven team. The AFSBn-Benelux commander attended along with several of the battalion staff members and their families, and there were about 480 DMOD employees and their families there, too.

“They had this really awesome inflatable obstacle course for the children with rope swings and cargo nets,” Hill said. “It took me hours to get my son off that thing. He was in there – back-and-forth, back-and-forth – for a very long time.”

“It was a great opportunity for us to socialize with our Dutch team members in a less formal environment,” said Hill. “We’re planning an organizational day ourselves in the spring, and we hope to get good participation from our DMOD teammates, then, too.”

“Our mission wouldn’t be successful without good cooperation between us and our host nation workforces. Not only do we have the Dutch Ministry of Defense workforce at the Eygelshoven worksite, but we also have a Belgian civilian workforce at our APS-2 worksite in Zutendaal [Belgium]. It’s very important to us – to the commander, especially – that we maintain good relationships and good cultural understanding and awareness of our two host nation workforces,” Hill said.

Hill said AFSBn-Benelux couldn’t operate without the host nation workers at his battalion’s two APS-2 worksites – not only during day-to-day operations at the worksites in the Netherlands and Belgium – but forward, as well.

“Every time I’ve deployed forward to an [Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area] site in places like Romania and Poland or wherever, the Dutch are there with us. The Dutch are there. The Belgians are there. We can’t do our mission without them. Without them, nothing would get accomplished,” said Hill.

The Eygelshoven APS-2 site provides 450,000 square feet of climate-controlled warehouse space in nine warehouses as well as 50,000 square feet of hardstand storage to hold and maintain APS-2 equipment sets. Responsible for the site, AFSBn-Benelux is one of four battalions assigned to the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. The battalion maintains mission command of Eygelshoven and Zutendaal and is charged with providing and coordinating receipt, transfer, storage and maintenance of APS-2 at those two worksites.

The 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program enhances U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s readiness and capability to support the warfighter while simultaneously promoting stability and security in the region. By providing turn-key power projection APS-2 packages ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, the 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program is a key component of U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s power projection and warfighter readiness missions.

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 the U.S. Army Materiel Command 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.