Eygelshoven, Netherlands — On June 7, the day that the flag of Montenegro, the newest country, and 29th member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was hoisted for the first time at NATO headquarters, the leadership team of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade, headquartered on Daenner Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, also hosted an international partnering event. Col. Rodney H. Honeycutt, 405 AFSB commander, Command Sgt. Maj. Mark A. Morgan, 405 AFSB command sergeant major, and Maj. Matthew A. Hedenskoog, commander, AFSBn-BENELUX, 405 AFSB, hosted a 40-member NATO logistics and resources delegation at Battalion Headquarters in Eygelshoven, Netherlands.
The visit included a bus tour of the Eygelshoven Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 site, and a terrain-model discussion regarding the Army Materiel Command’s operations, as well as the supporting role the APS-2 sites play in the U.S. Army Europe deterrence mission.
“The purpose of this engagement is to allow these NATO members to physically see what our Army is doing in terms of the APS sites,” said Col. James R. Becker, logistics and resource planner, and U.S. Military Delegation lead. “This visit to AFSBn-BENELUX gives us the opportunity to walk through, look at, and understand how this, and other APS-2 sites, contribute to overall, larger NATO mission,” he said.
“Not only does this visit give the NATO delegation first-hand exposure to key logistics NATO sites, but it also shows, first-hand, the valuable contributions to the Alliance made by both Belgium and the Netherlands,” added Honeycutt.
The Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 program positions combat and support equipment close to the fight in order to reduce deployment timelines and enhance the Speed of Assembly. AFSBn-BENELUX, which became operational Dec. 15, 2016, is the first of a number of sites that the U.S. Army is opening within the next few years. The opening of the second APS-2 site, Dulmen Army Depot, Germany, opened May 10. The third site, located in Zutendaal, Belgium, is scheduled to open this fall.
Once at full operational capability, APS-2 sites will provide combat equipment, such as modernized Abrams battle tanks, Paladin artillery and Bradley fighting vehicles, available for deploying United States Army personnel to support current and future ongoing operations within the European Theater.