{"id":89966,"date":"2024-01-11T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=89966"},"modified":"2024-01-16T21:17:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T21:17:50","slug":"battalion-spo-major-growth-in-aps-2-mission-south-of-the-alps-helps-build-readiness-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=89966","title":{"rendered":"Battalion SPO: major growth in APS-2 mission \u2018South of the Alps\u2019 helps build readiness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Robert Guess is the support operations officer at Army Field Support Battalion-Africa He said in the almost five years he\u2019s been at Leghorn Army Depot, the number of Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 unit equipment sets stored and maintained there jumped from one to 11 with plans in place to nearly double that within the next two to three years. The APS-2 site at Leghorn provides 630,000 square feet of humidity controlled space in 15 warehouses and another 587,000 square feet of outside storage. (U.S. Army courtesy photo)
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\n Robert Guess, the support operations officer at Army Field Support Battalion-Africa, enlisted in the Navy in 1979 from Panama where he lived with his family in the Panama Canal Zone. He served in the Navy for 24 years before retiring, to include 20 years in Naval Special Operations. Guess, who attended U.S. Navy Basic Underwater Demolition\/SEAL School in the early 1980s, retired as the command master chief petty officer of Combined Joint Special Operations Command in Naples, Italy. (U.S. Navy courtesy photo)
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\n Army Field Support Battalion-Africa maintains mission command of the Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite at Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno, Italy. The APS-2 site, with its 630,000 square feet of indoor humidity controlled space and 587,000 square feet of outside storage, currently houses 11 APS-2 unit equipment sets, but there are plans in place to nearly double that within the next two to three years. (U.S. Army courtesy photo)
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\n The Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 site at Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno, Italy, provides 630,000 square feet of humidity controlled capable space in 15 warehouses and another 587,000 square feet of outside storage. It currently houses 11 APS-2 unit equipment sets with plans to nearly double that within the next two to three years. Army Field Support Battalion-Africa is charged with receiving, maintaining, storing and issuing APS-2 at Leghorn Army Depot as well as at locations forward \u2013 known as equipment configuration and handoff areas, or ECHAs. (U.S. Army courtesy photo)
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LIVORNO, Italy \u2013 A lot has changed at Army Field Support Battalion-Africa<\/a> since Robert Guess arrived in July of 2019. When he first hit the ground, the Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite at Leghorn Army Depot \u2018South of the Alps\u2019 only had one APS-2 unit equipment set \u2013 about a battalion\u2019s worth of tactical vehicles and equipment pieces \u2013 and the installation itself was earmarked by the Department of Defense for drawdown and closure.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to 2024, Guess is now finishing up a five-year overseas tour with the 405th Army Field Support Brigade\u2019s AFSBn-Africa, the drawdown and closure plans at Leghorn have been rescinded, and there\u2019s now 11 unit equipment sets located at the APS-2 site. And plans are in place to nearly double that within the next two to three years.<\/p>\n

Guess, who serves as AFSBn-Africa\u2019s support operations officer, or SPO, makes it clear that his battalion lives and breathes APS-2 power projection. He said his team is currently doing the workload and manning analysis necessary to support the additional APS-2 sets. This includes the space allocation analysis, as well.<\/p>\n

And for the upcoming DEFENDER 24 exercise this Spring, the retired Navy command master chief petty officer with 24 years of active-duty service said AFSBn-Africa will be responsible for mission command of an equipment configuration and handoff area, or ECHA, in Eastern Europe. The battalion will be issuing three APS-2 unit equipment sets to multiple gaining tactical units participating in U.S. Army Europe and Africa\u2019s biggest exercise at the ECHA site.<\/p>\n

Guess served with the 402nd Army Field Support Brigade<\/a> as a contractor and strategic planner in Iraq for a couple of years starting in 2007 under very different circumstances, he said. In addition, Guess worked multiple other APS missions during his career, to include Fort Riley, Kansas, where he\u2019ll return in April.<\/p>\n

The 63-year-old father of two and grandfather of three more said the approach AFSBn-Africa uses and the common operating picture his team developed greatly improves the battalion\u2019s ability to manage APS-2, including its ability to dynamically employ APS-2 in support of two combatant commands. The battalion\u2019s efforts have directly impacted Army readiness across two major theaters of operations, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a team of four analysts in the SPO cell, which is uncommon for an APS site. It\u2019s really the first of its kind,\u201d said Guess. \u201cWe take great pride in being good stewards of Army resources and money while simultaneously making a difference and building readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line, our mission is to ensure the warfighters are ready to fight. That’s number one,\u201d said Guess, whose last position in the Navy before retirement was the senior enlisted leader for Combined Joint Special Operations Command in Naples, Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s not just me and my four analysts. It takes an entire team with multiple skill sets to ensure success. We take great pride knowing our warfighters are getting vehicles that are going to crank and get them into the fight quickly,\u201d said Guess, who was raised in the Panama Canal Zone and enlisted in the Navy from Panama in 1979.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing here at AFSBn-Africa is like the golden goose laying golden eggs,\u201d said Guess. \u201cFor a lot of folks, when they come here and see what we\u2019re doing and see our very comprehensive common operating picture, they say \u2018wow, this is amazing.\u2019 They want to adopt what we have and what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guess and the team at AFSBn-Africa are charged with receiving, maintaining, storing and issuing APS-2 at Leghorn Army Depot as well as at locations forward \u2013 known as equipment configuration and handoff areas, or ECHAs. The battalion is also responsible for linking national logistics capabilities and providing logistics solutions to Army units and joint forces South of the Alps through U.S. Army Materiel Command\u2019s Life Cycle Management Commands.<\/p>\n

Organizations AFSBn-Africa directly supports \u2013 helping to enable readiness across two theaters of operations \u2013 are U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa, Southern European Task Force-Africa, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and other strategic partners and allies.<\/p>\n

The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa<\/a>. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and 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 AMC materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website at www.afsbeurope.army.mil<\/a> and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com\/405thAFSB<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Robert Guess is the support operations officer at Army Field Support Battalion-Africa He said in the almost five years he\u2019s been at Leghorn Army Depot, the number of Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 unit equipment sets stored and maintained there jumped from one to 11 with plans in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89968,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89966","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\/89966","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=89966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89973,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89966\/revisions\/89973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}