Detailed into transportation 13 years ago, LRC Stuttgart PPPO chief now one of the Army’s top experts

STUTTGART, Germany - When the chief of the Personal Property Processing Office at Logistics Readiness Center Stuttgart started working for the Army as a civilian employee, he was in food service, but due to a severe manning shortage he was detailed into transportation.

Since then and over the past 13 years, Bill Johnson has gained a lot of knowledge and become one of the Army's top transportation experts. Helping service members and families with their personal property, household goods, and unaccompanied baggage shipments, Johnson has worked in transportation at multiple locations in the U.S. and in Germany since he was detailed into the job in 2011.

The former Navy sailor, who was medically discharged in 1993 after sustaining a debilitating knee injury, has worked at Logistics Readiness Center Redstone, Logistics Readiness Center Leavenworth and Logistics Readiness Center Ansbach as well as the Joint Personal Property Shipping Office-Northwest at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.

Johnson said the Personal Property Processing Office, or PPPO, at his current location since November 2022, LRC Stuttgart, has the mission of supporting U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, plus several other units and organizations in the U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart community. He said it's going to get extremely busy in about a month when peak permanent change of duty station season kicks in.

"We're creeping up on PCS season here, shortly. In fact, it's already starting to pick up now. Easily within the next month, peak season will be fully at our doorstep," said the 54-year-old Sierra Vista, Arizona, native.

In addition to the rigors associated with peak PCS season and supporting two combatant commands, Johnson said the PPPO at LRC Stuttgart is shorthanded. Even though they have selected six personnel to fill multiple vacant positions, it takes months to get them onboarded, outfitted with network access, fully trained and ready to support the community.

"I'm losing one of my people in about four weeks for another job, and another one of my employees is about to go on maternity leave at the end of this month," he said. "I'm going to be down to just two employees on my team in about four weeks, and it's going to be tough."

But Johnson said he has a plan. He's reached out to the PPPO teams at LRC Ansbach, Bavaria and Rheinland-Pfalz for assistance, and they've all agreed to help.

"Whatever we can't do because of lack of personnel, one of the other LRCs will help pick up the slack," he said. "At this point, we're just trying to iron out the process on how we're going to do that."

The PPPO at LRC Stuttgart is responsible for assisting service members, civilian employees and their families with inbound and outbound transportation of household goods and unaccompanied baggage to and from the USAG Stuttgart community. The LRC Stuttgart PPPO acts as a liaison between the community members and the moving companies that support them, facilitating the pickup and delivery of household goods and unaccompanied baggage shipments.

"I know how difficult it is - especially during this time of time of year - but that's our job," he said. "We're here to assist as best we can to help take the stress off of all our service members and their families here in the Stuttgart military community during their PCS moves."

LRC Stuttgart is one of eight LRCs under the command and control of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. LRCs execute installation logistics support and services to include supply, maintenance, and transportation as well as clothing issue facility operations, hazardous material management, personal property and household goods, passenger travel, non-tactical vehicle and garrison equipment management, and property book operations. When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Stuttgart directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Stuttgart.

LRC Stuttgart reports to the 405th AFSB, which 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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