{"id":502461,"date":"2025-06-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=502461"},"modified":"2025-06-30T10:23:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T10:23:54","slug":"automotive-supervisor-at-aps-2-zutendaal-armys-given-me-a-lot-of-opportunities-to-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=502461","title":{"rendered":"Automotive supervisor at APS-2 Zutendaal: Army\u2019s given me a lot of opportunities to grow"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>

\n 1 \/ 3<\/span>
\n
\n Show Caption +<\/span>
\n Hide Caption \u2013<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n
\n Michael Drutti, the automotive maintenance supervisor at the Zutendaal Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite, watches a mechanic on his team install a new fuel filter on a Light Capability Rough Terrain Forklift at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite, June 30, 2025.
\n (Photo Credit: U.S. Army courtesy photo)<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Automotive
\n <\/a>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n 2 \/ 3<\/span>
\n
\n Show Caption +<\/span>
\n Hide Caption \u2013<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n
\n Michael Drutti, the automotive maintenance supervisor at the Zutendaal Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite, points to the power steering reservoir on a Humvee in scheduled maintenance at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite, June 30, 2025.
\n (Photo Credit: U.S. Army courtesy photo)<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Automotive
\n <\/a>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n 3 \/ 3<\/span>
\n
\n Show Caption +<\/span>
\n Hide Caption \u2013<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n
\n Michael Drutti, the automotive maintenance supervisor at the Zutendaal Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite, watches Mathias Knoops as he conducts services on a wheel hub for a M1076 A1 Palletized Load System Trailer at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite, June 30, 2025.
\n (Photo Credit: U.S. Army courtesy photo)<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

ZUTENDAAL, Belgium \u2013 When Michael Drutti started working for the U.S. Army in 2018, the Belgian host nation employee at the Zutendaal Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite was a mechanic. After about three years he applied to become a team leader and was promoted. And then after another three years, he applied to be a supervisor and was promoted again.<\/p>\n

Now, the 32-year-old resident of Maasmechelen, Belgium, is the automotive supervisor for a team of about two dozen people at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite. His team is responsible for the maintenance program for all the light-wheeled vehicles stored and maintained there, plus all the electronic communications equipment and armament systems across the entire site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. Army\u2019s given me a lot of opportunities to grow since I started here less than eight years ago. I started as a mechanic and worked my way up to where I am now,\u201d said Drutti, whose team does all maintenance on all the APS-2 Humvees, trailers, forklifts, container handlers and mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles at the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m where I\u2019m at today because of the opportunities my leadership at Zutendaal provided me. They believed in me, and when someone believes in you this helps you grow,\u201d said the father of three girls and life partner to their mother for over 15 years.<\/p>\n

Drutti said he believes in his team as much as his supervisors believe in him, if not more. Under his leadership there are two team leads and 15 mechanics working the light-wheeled vehicle maintenance mission at Zutendaal. Also, there is a team lead and four electronics specialists working the maintenance mission for all communications equipment and one armament systems expert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing all the scheduled maintenance on all these vehicles and equipment from beginning to end. We also do surveys in the warehouses, and we fix things on the spot,\u201d Drutti said. \u201cFor example, if a vehicle has a breakdown while it\u2019s being operated during an exercise or another mission, we\u2019ll fix it on the spot. That\u2019s a good example of unscheduled maintenance, which we are also 100 percent responsible for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drutti and his team are assigned to Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux (AFSBn-Benelux). He said as their supervisor he mainly manages his team\u2019s schedule. He said he works with production control to plan their maintenance schedule at least 30 days in advance to ensure they are always ahead of the plan and everything is in order.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have one of the best teams I could possibly wish for,\u201d said Drutti. \u201cThey are always very helpful and always do great work. I\u2019m very proud to be a part of such an amazing group. I\u2019m very happy with my management and the leadership here at Zutendaal and AFSBn-Benelux, too. I\u2019m extremely happy to be a part of this incredible team.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Zutendaal APS-2 worksite maintains APS-2 equipment designated for a sustainment brigade and separate reporting units, plus three operational projects. The site encompasses 80,000 square meters of warehouse space in 28 warehouses as well as 500,000 square meters of outdoor storage.<\/p>\n

AFSBn-Benelux has mission command of the Zutendaal site and the Eygelshoven APS-2 worksite in the Netherlands and is charged with providing and coordinating receipt, transfer, storage and maintenance of APS-2 at the two sites and at equipment configuration and hand-off areas, forward.<\/p>\n

The Zutendaal and Eygelshoven sites are two of six APS-2 worksites across Europe under the command and control of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. The 405th AFSB\u2019s APS-2 program enhances U.S. Army Europe and Africa\u2019s readiness and capability to support the warfighter while simultaneously promoting stability and security in the region.<\/p>\n

The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The brigade provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. forces throughout Europe and Africa \u2013 providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging the U.S. Army Materiel Command materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website<\/a> and the official Facebook site<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Michael Drutti, the automotive maintenance supervisor at the Zutendaal Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite, watches a mechanic on his team install a new fuel filter on a Light Capability Rough Terrain Forklift at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite, June 30, 2025. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army courtesy photo) VIEW […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502463,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-502461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=502461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502467,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502461\/revisions\/502467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/502463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=502461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=502461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=502461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}