11/06/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/06/2024 09:30
CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - The Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, or LOGCAP, provides vital life support to Soldiers and Army Civilians at nearly 100 forward sites across 26 countries and five continents.
One southeastern European country the 405th Army Field Support Brigade provides LOGCAP services to is Kosovo. There, four sites are supported. They are Camp Bondsteel and Camp Film City in Pristina, plus Camp Nothing Hill in northern Kosovo and Camp Marechal de Lattre de Tassigny, or CMLT.
Army 1st Lt. Dallas Reed and Maj. Robert Corkrum oversee and help manage the LOGCAP contracts in Kosovo. Reed is a LOGCAP logistics support officer assigned to the 405th AFSB, and Corkrum is an administrative contract officer and Reservist with the 409th Contracting Support Brigade. Additionally, Reed and Corkrum work closely with Alton Williams Jr. who is the support contractor senior logistics management specialist on the ground.
Reed said of the four sites, Camp Bondsteel is the main one. There, LOGCAP provides life support services such as dining facility and food service support, living areas, showers, latrines, vehicle maintenance, facility construction, back-up generator support, Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation support, and more.
One of the LOGCAP missions underway now is an ammunition supply area at Camp Bondsteel. Reed said the supported unit completed a letter of justification, and materials are on order. Once U.S. Army Sustainment Command approves the project start date, they can begin construction.
"We have some of the supplies, but some is back ordered and not here yet," Reed said. "Once we get those products, we'll be able to get the okay back from Rock Island [Illinois, where ASC headquarters in located] saying that we can start the project."
"It's basically two separate orders," added Corkrum. "Once all the materials are here, the procuring contracting officer at Rock Island will award the construction portion of this project in support of Area Support Group-Balkans here at Camp Bondsteel."
In addition to this new project, two fire trucks were recently obtained using LOGCAP, Corkrum said, and currently construction on a platform to support a satellite system is underway as well as construction on some new stairways and other support infrastructure.
Some of the stuff here is quite old. It comes from the beginning of Camp Bondsteel, which is nearly 25 years ago, so LOGCAP is constantly helping to upgrade facilities and services, said Corkrum.
"Our commander is very reliant on us to give good advice on how to procure certain things, and we work closely with the contracting officer representatives and give them training, as well. LOGCAP is very important because it provides life support services immediately. Deployments can be difficult sometimes, but LOGCAP helps," Corkrum said.At Camp Nothing Hill and Camp Marechal de Lattre de Tassigny, LOGCAP services are primarily focused on recovery and maintenance. If a vehicle breaks down, LOGCAP can quickly help recover the vehicle. Sometimes a maintenance crew will be dispatched to provide assistance on site, but more often the vehicle is recovered and brought to Camp Bondsteel to be repaired.
At Camp Film City, it's a different story. LOGCAP provides a considerable amount of facility and preventative maintenance, there. Facility upgrades, infrastructure maintenance, construction, the full gamut of general maintenance - plus recovery services - is provided by LOGCAP at Film City.
Besides all this, one of the primary things Corkrum and Reed provide is LOGCAP education. Providing education on LOGCAP capabilities to the installation management team and the commander is a big part of the administrative contract officer and logistics support officer's combined mission.
LOGCAP is an Army strategic sourcing preferred source for base operations support and sustainment services. LOGCAP remains the contracted capability of choice for the Army and multiple joint partners for emergent and contingency operations. Currently, the 405th AFSB's LOGCAP program supports thousands of deployed U.S. forces in Europe and Africa with base life support and more. In Europe alone, LOGCAP supports 37 locations in nine countries.The 405th AFSB is assigned to ASC 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 and the official Facebook site.