$2.5 billion worth of APS-2 equipment at Dülmen huge responsibility for senior NCO

DÜLMEN, Germany - When Sgt. 1st Class Belloc Anim was assigned to the White House Communications Agency in Washington, D.C., he was the property book senior noncommissioned officer in charge of $350 million worth of communications equipment. Now, at the Dülmen Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite, the total value of the property he's responsible for is over $2.5 billion.

The native of Ghana, who moved to Virginia when he was 28 years old, joined the Army at the age of 34. He'll have 14 years of service in July, and he's currently serving as the commander's responsible officer at the Dülmen APS-2 site. At the site, Anim is accountable for 46 separate unit equipment sets, more widely known as UICs.

Working at an APS-2 site and managing property accountability there is much different than other Army assignments, said the career supply NCO who gained his U.S. citizenship while serving as a Soldier.

"It's the way the APS-2 program is set up," Anim said. "The way we do business is very different, here. Normally, when you're a supply sergeant, you're managing one UIC. No matter how big it is, it's one UIC. But here I'm managing 46 UICs, and actually it's 53 UICs. Six of them are project UICs."

Anim, who is currently conducting a 100 percent inventory of all the APS-2 unit equipment sets at Dülmen, said it's never ending. Continuously, he's transferring equipment to gaining tactical units deployed to Europe for training and exercises or to units that are standing up, like a newly activated air defense artillery battalion under the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command he's working with now. Or he's handling the accountability of unit equipment sets, or UICs, arriving to Dülmen coming from other APS-2 sites, or vice versa.

In preparation for DEFENDER 24, Anim and his team at Dülmen - in coordination with the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency - are preparing to sign over an entire Army field hospital set to two U.S.-based Reserve hospital units from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to include containers, tactical transport trucks, generators, air conditioning and heating units, medical equipment, medical supplies, and more.

When not inventorying $2.5 billion worth of APS-2 equipment or signing over an equipment set to a unit participating in an exercise or mission - life for Anim and his family is also quite different than most Army assignments.

Anim and his wife - who he met in 2012 while stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia - have four young children, together. They live in Münster, Germany, which is about 20 miles from the Dülmen APS-2 worksite. There are no commissaries or Exchange services nearby and no Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation facilities. Two of their children attend an international school, and two go to a German kindergarten. The garrison tasked with supporting them, U.S. Army Garrison Benelux, is headquartered in Chièvres, Belgium, about 230 miles from Dülmen.

But the 47-year-old graduate of the University of Maryland Global Campus who holds master's degree in biotechnology said he and his family are very happy living in the northwestern German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He said the lifestyle is unique but enjoyable, and his battalion commander agrees.

An assignment at the Dülmen APS-2 worksite "is truly a hidden gem amongst Army assignments," said Lt. Col. Denny Bernacki, the commander of Army Field Support Battalion-Germany, 405th Army Field Support Brigade.

The Dülmen worksite 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. By providing turn-key power projection APS-2 packages ready to deploy at a moment's notice, the APS-2 program is a key component of U.S. Army Europe and Africa's power projection and warfighter readiness missions.

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. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and 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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