APS-2 expert who helped open Dülmen in 2016 back at site leading multiple missions

DÜLMEN, Germany - When the 405th Army Field Support Brigade first assumed mission command of the old Tower Barracks in Dülmen, one of the first people to work there and help transition Dülmen to an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite was Anthony Miller. Now, Miller is the quality assurance supervisor at Dülmen as well as the primary contracting officer representative and the program manager for the customs and agricultural programs.

Miller, who was first at Dülmen from 2016 to 2019 and then came back in 2023, said opening a new APS-2 worksite without local logistical and administrative support was challenging.

"I don't know what the normal growing pains are when opening a new site, but we had them all," said Miller, who is assigned to Army Field Support Battalion-Germany. "Everything at that time was ran out of Kaiserslautern and Sembach. Getting our facilities up to par to store APS-2 equipment while meeting the requirements of COSIS [Care of Supplies in Storage] was difficult."

Miller came to Dülmen from Grafenwöhr, Germany, where he worked with the old European Activity Sets, the precursor to APS-2. There, he started out as a contractor maintaining their arms room and later was hired as an Army civilian doing quality assurance work.

He transitioned from Grafenwöhr to the Army's newest APS-2 worksite, at the time, and started working for the 405th AFSB. He also met his wife there, in nearby Münster, where they live now with their two sons.

"I kind of feel at home here. When I came here the first time, I met my wife. This time around, I wanted to get her closer to her family, so we decided to come back," said Miller who grew up just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin, but left when he was 17.

At work at the APS-2 site, the 40-year-old graduate of the University of Maryland with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and law enforcement has multiple duties.

As the contracting officer representative, or COR, he acts as the eyes and ears of the contract officer. The key role he plays as a COR is to observe, document and communicate contractor performance.

As a quality assurance supervisor, he maintains the surveillance schedule for all the quality assurance personnel. He currently supervises two local national employees and one Army civilian, but he's in the process of hiring two more Army civilians, now.

"We make sure that all the contractual requirements are being met and the taxpayers are getting what they are paying for. But now with the transition to LOGCAP [Logistics Civilian Augmentation Program], everything's going to change, so I'm kind of spearheading that transition from the quality assurance side of the house," said Miller, who recently completed Contract Administrative Services Training at Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Germany, which focused on LOGCAP V and APS-2 operations.

As the program manager for the customs clearance program at Dülmen, Miller oversees eight contractors who work in the transportation section for the contract. He also maintains relations with the local host nation Zollamt, or German customs office, to assist in supporting mission requirements for future operations.

Every time an item arrives at the site or leaves the site, there's a process that must be followed before the German customs office grants final approval, he said. Recently, as an example, more than 30 containers left Dülmen in support of the activation of an APS-2 field hospital in Baumholder, Germany, during DEFENDER 24, and a few weeks they returned.

When it comes to the agricultural program, the former infantryman who served eight years as an active-duty Soldier is responsible for ensuring anything being shipped from Dülmen to the U.S. is environmentally cleared.

In addition, some of the APS-2 equipment may require a special agricultural wash prior to departure, and Miller helps to ensure this happens, he said. Miller and his team shipped a containerized field kitchen in early July bound for North Carolina that needed to be environmentally cleared, for example.

The Dülmen APS-2 worksite is under the mission command of AFSBn-Germany. The site supports the 405th AFSB's APS-2 program and is comprised of about 140,000 square feet of hardstand space and approximately 480,000 square feet of humidity-controlled warehouse space with an additional 140,000 square feet of storage in the maintenance and storage swing space areas.

The 405th AFSB's APS-2 program enhances U.S. Army Europe and Africa's readiness and capability to support the warfighter while simultaneously promoting stability and security in the region. APS-2 equipment may also be drawn for use in training and exercises.

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 - providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging U.S. Army Materiel Command's materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website and the official Facebook site.

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