MANNHEIM, Germany - The command team from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade conducted a site visit, terrain walk and key leader engagement at the Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks -2 worksite in Mannheim recently to assess the ongoing transition of APS-2 maintenance operations between service providers.

Army Col. Ernest Lane II, the commander of the 405th AFSB, and Command Sgt. Maj. Patrick Marrill, the brigade's senior enlisted leader, walked the site Dec. 2 with team members from Army Field Support Battalion-Germany, Logistics Civil Augmentation Program-Europe, 405th Contracting Support Brigade and other key players.

The Support Operations team from AFSBn-Germany provided Lane and Marrill with a brief of the worksite, highlighting key successes as well as friction points in the current execution of transitioning maintenance operations at Coleman from one service provider to another. During this terrain walk, Lane emphasized the brigade's priorities, which remain employee safety, property accountability, and the seamless transfer of operational knowledge during the transition.

"Logistics operations in Europe have some unique challenges, and the LOGCAP program will help provide the needed flexibility to maximize readiness and respond to the theater's priorities when called upon," Lane said during the visit.

Lane and Marrill also took the time to recognize several leaders and key team players for their outstanding support to APS-2 operations in Europe as well as their part in the transition efforts and meeting U.S. Army Materiel Command enterprise priorities.

Lane presented commander's coins for excellence to Maj. Charles Pearson, AFSBn-Germany's Support Operations officer; Maj. May Sena, LOGCAP-Europe's senior planner; Maj. Jordan Brought from the 409th Contracting Support Brigade; and Staff Sgt. Chico Halbert, a LOGCAP-Europe noncommissioned officer. Lane emphasized their shared commitment to readiness, synchronized planning and cross-organizational teamwork in driving mission success.

Lane also honored three teammates from the Coleman APS-2 worksite for their exceptional contributions to the contract transition and associated property accountability mission.

Christian Melchers, the Zero Parts Availability Readiness Key manager at Coleman, was recognized for significantly reducing over 1,000 lines of turn-in property valued at more than $2 million in one month and enabling readiness through continuous coordination with the contractor.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Jannet Black, the site's supply noncommissioned officer, was commended for expertly managing contract transition inventories consisting of more than 17,000 Modified Table of Organizational Equipment items and 9,000 pieces of contractor-acquired property.

Aldrin Ledwidge, a Defense Contract Management Agency employee and Army Expeditionary Civilian Workforce deployer at the APS-2 site, was honored for his exceptional contract management support, leading the review and development of LOGCAP Contracting Officer's Representative surveillance tools while completing over 150 surveillance actions and preparing critical reporting submissions to help ensure readiness.

Lane and Marrill said their site visit to the Coleman APS-2 worksite was a great opportunity to recognize excellence and reinforce readiness across the 405th AFSB and the AMC enterprise in Europe.

The Coleman APS-2 worksite is one of six APS-2 worksites in Europe, and AFSBn-Germany is one of four APS-2 battalions under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. 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.

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 point 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 and the official Facebook site.