USAREUR-AF foreign liaison officers meet with 21st TSC to work towards future interoperability

U.S. Army Soldiers from the 21st Theater Sustainment Command and foreign liaison officers from U.S. Army Europe and Africa take a group photo together after a meeting on Panzer Kaserne, Kaiserslautern, Germany, on Jan. 30, 2024. The USAREUR-AF LFOs met with 21st TSC logisticians to discuss future interoperability operations (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Samuel Signor).

The 21st Theater Sustainment Command hosted U.S. Army Europe and Africa Foreign Liaison Officers at Panzer Kaserne, Jan. 30.

21st TSC Distribution Management Center hosted the event focused on improving U.S., Ally and Partner interoperability. FLOs from Germany, Great Britain, Greece, France, Lithuania, Poland, Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, and Finland shared their respective countries’ perspectives on setting the European theatre.

The meeting covered the various methods and modes of transportation utilized in projecting combat power into the European continent. The FLOs spoke to their nations’ specific lessons learned from internal movement operations within their own borders.

“Now more than ever our collective defense needs to be backed up by collective sustainment,” said 21st TSC Deputy Commanding Officer Col. Todd Allison. “We can’t do what we do without your host nation support.”

According to DMC planner Maj. Nathan Ray, 21st TSC’s goal was to leverage those lessons learned and integrate them into future operation planning, enhancing shared understanding of theater mobility and interoperability.

Improving international cooperation was a sentiment echoed by the FLOs themselves.

“To sit down on a regular basis, all the nations, I think you will be able to see solutions that we don’t see in any other way,” said Lt. Col. Klaus Bomgaard, Danish FLO. “How can we as Denmark support?”

According to Ray, the event was more than just another meeting; it helped bolster U.S.-European relationships through the human connection.

“So for me, what I got out of this actually the face-to-face aspect, which I think is absolutely key,” said Col. Paul Blakesley, the Great Britain FLO.