LIVORNO, Italy – Massimo Carpina started working for the Army at Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno in 1984. Now, after 41 years of faithful and dedicated service, the Italian host nation employee and deputy support operations officer at Army Field Support Battalion-Africa is preparing to retire at the end of July.

“I dedicated over four decades of my life to service with the United States Army,” Carpina said. “My entire adult life I’ve worked for this organization, and I’m very proud of that. Retiring on the year of the Army’s 250th birthday gives me two great reasons to celebrate. Happy 250th birthday, U.S. Army!”

“I’ve been thinking about my retirement every day for about two months, and I have mixed feelings,” said the 64-year-old lifelong resident of Livorno who started at Leghorn in his early 20s. “On one hand I’ve given the best part of my life to the Army, and I’m extremely proud of that. On the other hand, I’m going to miss my team here at AFSBn-Africa and at the brigade, the sister battalions, and Army Sustainment Command and Army Materiel Command.”

At retirement, the father of six and grandfather of three said he plans to relax and spend as much time as possible with his family. Carpina said it all started when he met his wife in 1989 while at work. Chiara Mattirolo is the Camp Darby public affairs officer. When he met her over 36 years ago, that moment changed everything, for him.

“We were married in September of 2003, but we’ve been together since the start. Meeting Chiara, making her my wife and building a family together was absolutely the best decision of my life. It’s time now to think about nothing else but supporting her and our family,” he said.

As one chapter closes and another opens, the 25-year deputy support operations officer at Leghorn said he has nothing but pride, praise and words of appreciation for his team, the Army and all that’s been afforded to him and his family.

“Thanks for all the opportunities. We sometimes forget or don’t realize and understand how lucky we are. We’ve been given all these amazing opportunities, and we need to take advantage of them and show our appreciation. I think I did that during my 41 years of service, and I’m very appreciative. Thank you!”

AFSBn-Africa is charged with receiving, maintaining, and storing Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 at Leghorn Army Depot. In addition, the battalion issues APS-2 to gaining tactical units at locations forward at equipment configuration and handoff areas, or ECHAs. Most recently, AFSBn-Africa issued over 500 APS-2 tactical vehicles and major end items at an ECHA site in Komotini, Greece. The gaining tactical unit was a National Guard unit from the U.S. participating in DEFENDER 25 in Europe.

AFSBn-Africa is one of four battalions under the mission command of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade, 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.

The Army will celebrate its 250th birthday on June 14. For 250 years, the Army has offered endless possibilities and opportunities for service to our nation with over 200 career choices for Soldiers and more than 500 career paths for civilians. Go here to learn more about the Army’s 250th birthday and check out the DVIDS’s special Army birthday feature portal.