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KITGUM, Uganda — When Soldiers from U.S. Army Europe go somewhere for an extended exercise, one of the first set of boots on the ground belong to a German civilian employee who works at the Theater Logistics Support Center-Europe, in Kaiserslautern.
Marcus Ziegler, an equipment specialist with 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s TLSC-E, is known as the “Tentmeister.” He has set up tents in places like Romania, Bulgaria and Kosovo.
“It’s my job. I do it all over Europe and now, for the first time, I do it in Africa too,” he said.
Mr. Ziegler is in Uganda to set up tents for the life support area at Natural Fire 10, an exercise that offers an opportunity for East African community partner nations and the U.S. military to work together on a humanitarian assistance mission.
There are many challenges with working on a new continent, Mr. Ziegler said.
“It’s very difficult to get stuff down here,” he said. “Supplies are very hard to get. Whatever you do not have with you, you have to wait at least two weeks to get it.”
The local contractors are also not familiar with the German-style fest tents, which makes the process even more difficult, Mr. Ziegler said.
“It’s really hard to get them into it,” he said. “I try to explain and then show them by myself how it works and then try to let them copy what I do.”
Mr. Ziegler is a key part to this exercise, said Maj. Richardo Wilson, plans and operations officer with the 21st TSC’s Special Troops Battalion.
Mr. Ziegler oversees the contractors as they build the life support area where the servicemembers will be fed and housed and where the command and control cell will be located. He is also responsible for ensuring that all five tents are erected properly and to standard.
The most important key to success is equipment maintenance, Mr. Ziegler added.
“We try to keep the tents in good shape so whenever we take them down and set them up again, every part that you need is there,” he said.
And that care for his equipment and attention to detail helps ensure that wherever the 21st TSC sends Mr. Ziegler next, the tents will go up quickly and safely.
Natural Fire 10 is a joint and combined training exercise in Uganda that offers military personnel from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and the United States an opportunity to work together and learn to better respond to complex humanitarian emergencies.
