ZUTENDAAL, Belgium – Mandy Rockette Romanek served in the Air Force for almost five years, active duty. She also served as a Department of Defense (DoD) government civilian employee for five more. Now, for the last year and a half, she’s an Army civilian employee with Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux (AFSBn-Benelux) at the Zutendaal Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 (APS-2) worksite.

“I started with the Air Force, so I have a lot of Air Force pride, but now I have dual pride in the Air Force and the Army,” said the AFSBn-Benelux quality assurance specialist and team lead. “It’s exciting to be a member of this battalion stationed in Belgium and working for the Army – especially this year on the Army’s 250th birthday. Happy 250th birthday, U.S. Army!”

Romanek was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, when she was with the Air Force, which she said she really enjoyed. She was also stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, and when she worked for DoD she was in Philadelphia assigned to the Defense Contract Management Agency.

“It’s my first time being stationed overseas in Europe,” said the 43-year-old mother of four adult sons, one who is with her in Belgium. “I loved my time in Japan so much I wanted to come back overseas, and here I love Europe even more,” added Romanek who met her significant other at her worksite in Belgium. He’s a Belgian host nation employee, also with AFSBn-Benelux.

At work, Romanek is assigned to AFSBn-Benelux’s quality assurance division at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite. There are three quality assurance teams in the QA division, each with its own Army civilian team lead and two Belgian host nation employees. Her team is responsible for monitoring the supply division and providing quality assurance support to them. Simply put, Romanek and her team help with APS-2 preservation at the worksite.

“We're charged with making sure there are processes in place to ensure everything is running smoothly and everyone is following procedures. Ultimately, we help ensure the preservation of all the Army tactical vehicles, equipment sets, containers and everything else APS-2 related,” said Romanek, who previously performed ultrasonics and X-rays on aircraft to find subsurface defects when she was a senior airman with the Air Force.

“I’m really proud of my team and the entire Team Zutendaal QA crew,” said Romanek. “We started at ground zero in October with a brand-new quality assurance program – new processes, new surveys, new checklists and a newly developed Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan or QASP. Now we’re up and running as a full-blown quality assurance division.”

Romanek holds two master’s degrees from Strayer University, one in business and project management and one in education. She said part of their newly revamped QA program she helped develop includes scheduled internal audits, where they have already discovered areas the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite can operate more efficiently while remaining compliant, ready to support pre-programed external audits and inspections.

The Zutendaal APS-2 worksite in Belgium falls under the mission command of AFSBn-Benelux, 405th Army Field Support Brigade, along with the Eygelshoven APS-2 worksite in the Netherlands. The teams from Zutendaal and Eygelshoven can rapidly issue combat vehicles and equipment sets to gaining tactical units at their worksites or at forward locations across central and eastern Europe using equipment configuration and hand-off areas (ECHAs). APS-2 sites like Zutendaal help reduce deployment timelines, improve deterrence capabilities and provide additional combat power for contingency operations.

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.

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.