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***image1***Army Europe history has just been packed up in 30,000 boxes on 800 pallets to travel almost 50 miles from Bensheim, Germany, to its new home in Kaiserslautern.
As the largest one outside of the U.S., the Army in Europe Records Holding Area keeps track of Department of Army forms as far back as the 1980s. These hardcopy forms – generated for and signed by Soldiers and civilians assigned in Europe – include legal, contracting, individual permanent change of station, separation, dental and downrange records.
“It’s history. It’s litigation. It’s protection for the Army and individuals,” said Alfred Lang, the U.S. Army Installation Management Command-Europe Human Resources director, at the grand opening June 6 at the RHA’s new location in Panzer Kaserne, Bldg. 3041.
Beside the hardcopy storage, these records are also cataloged in six main databases and six sub-databases, said Thomasz Proch, a RHA management technician, who is responsible for inputting and tracking this information.
“We have the technology and process in place to go digital,” said Lorna Martin Gross, the IMCOM-E records manager. She said she could see the RHA in the future as a little room with just a computer in it. However, she added, “As long as hard copies are being generated, we will need to keep them, especially for litigation where signatures are very important.”
Mr. Lang agrees, “This (hardcopy storage) will never go away.”
The RHA was first located in Maison Fort, France, during World War II. It was here that separation records for Clark Gable, Elvis Presley and Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy were stored.
After the deactivation of Army units from France in 1967, it was moved to Bremerhaven, Germany. Bensheim was home to the RHA from 1992 until now.
Renovating the existing building on Panzer Kaserne for federal requirements for an RHA took four months with a price tag of about $350,000, said Kent Carson,
the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern Public Works director. He added the RHA was one of about 30 ongoing transformation projects currently taking place here. Under
the U.S. Army Europe transformation plan, Kaiserslautern is listed as an enduring community.
Darmstadt closing in September was one of the reasons for the move, but the biggest reason, said Mr. Lang, was the building itself. In Bensheim, the RHA occupied a former Mercedes truck plant, which had several rooms. Here, it is in a single 40,000-square foot building, which makes using a forklift to load and unload pallets onto racks a lot easier, said Andreas Schork, a RHA management technician, whose main job is driving the forklift.
“I drive it every day – eight hours,” he said.
Mr. Schork, Mr. Proch and colleague, Andreas Kühn, are responsible for collecting,
reviewing, cataloging, storing, preserving and acting as the shipping agent of Army in Europe’s official records. They process these records based on the Army Records Information Management System disposition instructions. The Privacy Act of 1974 also plays heavily in the storing and processing of records.
All three – more than half of the current staff – agreed to relocate to the new location.
“We are really glad about that because this will guarantee that we will continue the quality of service we have provided so far,” said Mr. Lang.
Units here will not have many dealings with the RHA unless it is to drop off records, said Martin Gross. Individuals wanting a record from the RHA will need to fill out a Freedom of Information Act request form.
The RHA also stores records for Department of Defense Education Activity, Army and Air Force Exchange Service and the Criminal Investigation Division.
