Combined Logistics Excellence Awards honor year’s best supply, maintenance, deployment operations

HEIDELBERG, Germany — U.S. Army Europe and the Installation Management Command-Europe honored units and organizations for their excellence in the areas of supply, maintenance and deployment operations during a Combined Logistics Excellence Awards ceremony April 5 at the Patrick Henry Village Pavilion here.

The CLEA ceremony recognizes this year’s best logisticians in Europe in multiple categories of three awards programs: the Army Award for Maintenance Excellence, the Supply Excellence Award and the Deployment Excellence Award. This year’s ceremony also honors two U.S. Army Africa winners.

USAREUR commander Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, the event’s guest speaker, provided another adage on the value of logistics — one that has been attributed to a host of military leaders, from Clausewitz and Napoleon to Omar Bradley. “Amateurs study tactics, while professionals study logistics,” he said.

General Hertling saluted the winners, pointing to initiatives such as the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s push to reinforce the Task Force Harvest property accountability program as “exactly the kinds of things we need to be looking at.” At the same time, he challenged logisticians to work at doing the important things the right way, instead of trying to do everything.

“Let’s make our Army the leanest and most effective it can be,” the general said.

Win or lose, just taking part in the CLEA makes processes and organizations better, General Hertling added, by improving readiness and efficiency, reinforcing good uses of resources, and saving money.

Each award is earned on the strength of an entry packet that contains the unit or organization’s profile and descriptions of its achievements during the previous 12 months, followed by on-site evaluations by recognized experts in each field.

After competition at the Europe level, some of the award winners will go on to compete for Department of the Army-level awards. These award winners are denoted by an asterisk in the lists that follow.

Below is a list of this year’s award winners. To see a full list, including runners up, visit www.kaiserslauternamerican.com.

The Chief of Staff, Army, Award for Maintenance Excellence

The AAME was established by the Army in 1982 to recognize “exceptional accomplishment in unit maintenance across the full spectrum of combat arms, combat support and combat service support,” and is co-sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association.

AAME winners:

» Category Mobilization Table of Organization and Equipment, Small: Forward Support Company, 54th Engineer Battalion, 18th Engineer Brigade, Bamberg*

» Category MTOE, Medium: 317th Maintenance Company, 391st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Bamberg*

» Category (Active Army) All Others, Medium: Maintenance Activity Vilseck, Theater Logistics Center-Europe, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Vilseck*

» Category (Active Army) All Others, Large: Maintenance Activity Kaiserslautern, Theater Logistics Center-Europe, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Kaiserslautern*

AAME Runners-up:

» Category MTOE, Large: 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Grafenwöhr

The Chief of Staff, Army, Deployment Excellence Award

The DEA is designed to recognize units and installations for “outstanding deployment accomplishments which meet or exceed established deployment standards” and share innovative deployment initiatives. It is co-sponsored by the Deputy Chiefs of Staff for Operations (G3) and Logistics (G4) and administered by the Army Transportation Center.

DEA winners:

» Best Participating Operational Deployment Small Unit: Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 54th Engineer Battalion, 18th Engineer Brigade, Bamberg*

» Best Participating Unit Small Deploying Category: Delta Detachment, 106th Financial Management Company, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Kaiserslautern*

» Best Participating Supporting Unit Category: 14th Transportation Battalion (MC), 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Vicenza, Italy*

DEA Runners-up:

» Supporting Unit Category: 39th Transportation Battalion (MC), 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Kaiserslautern*

DEA Honorable Mention:

» Operational Deployment Large Unit Category: 54th Engineer Battalion, 18th Engineer Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Bamberg*

» Small Deploying Unit Category: 240th Quartermaster Company, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Kaiserslautern*

» Large Deploying Unit Category: 54th Engineer Battalion, 18th Engineer Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Bamberg*

» Supporting Unit Category: 624th Transportation Detachment (Movement Control Team), 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Kaiserslautern*

The Chief of Staff, Army, Supply Excellence Award

The SEA was created in 1986 to recognize excellence in supply operations, enhance the logistics readiness of Army units and enforce the Command Supply Discipline Program. It is co-sponsored by the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics

(G4) and the National Defense Industrial Association.

SEA winners:

» Category Level I (A) MTOE Company/Battery/Detachment: Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, Joint Multinational Readiness Center, 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command, Hohenfels*

» Headquarters Support Company, U.S. Army Africa, Vicenza, Italy*

» Category Level I (B) TDA Company/Battery/Detachment: Maintenance Activity Vilseck, Theater Logistics Center-Europe, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Vilseck*

» Category Level II (A) MTOE Property Book Operations: Property Book Office, 21st Special Troops Battalion, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Kaiserslautern*

» Category Level IV (A) MTOE Supply Support Activity: Supply Support Activity, 240th Quartermaster Company, 391st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Bamberg*

SEA Runners-up:

» Category Level II (A) MTOE Property Book Operations: Property Book Office, 15th Engineer Battalion, 18th Engineer Brigade,

21st Theater Sustainment Command, Schweinfurt

» Category Level IV (B) TDA Supply Support Activity: Supply Support Activity (AGJ), Supply Activity Europe, Theater Logistics Sustainment Command-Europe, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Kaiserslautern