When the Vermont Army National Guard Soldiers touched down in Greece at 1 a.m. May 18 for DEFENDER 25, they were traveling light. The Soldiers from the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) were carrying a couple of bags each – the typical allotted baggage allowance most commercial airline companies permit.

While these National Guard Soldiers are designated as light infantry, that’s taking light to the extreme. But that’s because all the vehicles, equipment items and everything they need for DEFENDER 25 was already on the ground in Komotini at an equipment configuration and hand-off area (ECHA) established and operated by Army Field Support Battalion-Africa (AFSBn-Africa).

Fully mission capable and configured for combat – over 500 Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 (APS-2) tactical vehicles and major end items from Leghorn Army Depot, Italy, were lined up at the ECHA site, ready for issue to the National Guard Soldiers when they arrived.

In addition to an entire light infantry battalion and a forward support company’s worth of APS-2 tactical vehicles and major end items from Leghorn where AFSBn-Africa is home-based, waiting for the Vermont Soldiers were hundreds of Class VIII medical supply items, medical equipment, such as x-ray machines, and more from the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency (USAMMA) at Army Field Support Battalion-Germany’s Dülmen APS-2 worksite in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

And if that wasn’t enough, an additional 200 APS-2 tactical vehicles and major end items were simultaneously arriving at the Komotini ECHA site from Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux’s Eygelshoven APS-2 worksite in the Netherlands. This additional APS-2 gear – which includes several M1135 Stryker NBC reconnaissance vehicles and other chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) defense equipment, plus more Humvees, 5-ton trucks, light medium tactical vehicles and more – were issued to the 59th Chemical Company at Eygelshoven less than a week earlier and line haul transported to Komotini to support the 86th IBCT.

Army Capt. Sydney Morriss, the AFSBn-Africa operations officer back at Leghorn, said she’s serving as the issue officer in charge at the Komotini ECHA site. During the mission she’s helping lead efforts in receiving, offloading and configuring all the APS-2 tactical vehicles and equipment sets from three separate APS-2 worksites as they arrive. But the real heroes, she said, are the Italian host nation APS-2 experts assigned to AFSBn-Africa who volunteered to take part in the mission and deployed from Leghorn to Komotini for DEFENDER 25.

“I’ve had the privilege of working alongside some of the most skilled and experienced Italian local nationals, who I’ve already learned a great deal from back at Livorno,” Morriss said. “In support of DEFENDER 25 here at the ECHA site, I expect to learn even more from them as we work together to provide a smooth transfer of all this APS-2 gear to the gaining tactical unit from the U.S.”

Army Maj. Jeremy Evans, also assigned to AFSBn-Africa, is the officer in charge at the Komotini ECHA site. In addition, he’s the contracting officer representative for the site’s materiel handing equipment, the cranes and forklifts, plus the latrines, light sets, trash disposal, and hazardous material removal. In addition to those duties, Evans is the DEFENDER 25 primary integrator between the U.S. forces in Komotini and the Hellenic Army there in support.

“Everything from fuel support to security to coordinating for escort services for our vehicles coming in, the Hellenic Army has been a great partner,” Evans said. “They have been absolutely phenomenal, and I've had zero issues or concerns. They've been wonderful teammates, and I appreciate them.”

But just like Morriss, Evans also made a point of recognizing AFSBn-Africa’s host nation Italian workforce. Evans said each one of the Italian APS-2 experts who traveled from Leghorn to Komotini is a highly valued member of the team, and for DEFENDER 25 a highly valued volunteer deployer.

“They’re all doing an outstanding job. They're excited. They're motivated. They've been doing this job for years. Most of them have done numerous ECHA missions previously, so they're very familiar, very competent, and require little direction and guidance to execute the mission to a high level of success,” Evans said.

“It's been very rewarding,” said Evans, “and honestly this is probably the most ideal partnership among so many organizations that I've encountered in my entire career – all in support of these deploying National Guard Soldiers from Vermont arriving now for DEFENDER 25. That's the bottom line – Support the Warrior!”

Battalion Africa is one of four battalions under the command and control of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. AFSBn-Africa is responsible for the APS-2 worksite at Leghorn and for APS-2 ECHA sites forward during exercises or contingency missions. The APS-2 program AFSBn-Africa directly supports is a key component to 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 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 at www.afsbeurope.army.mil and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com/405thAFSB.

The 86th IBCT deployed its headquarters and headquarters company to Komotini from Jericho, Vermont, for DEFENDER 25 as well as its 172nd Cavalry Squadron, 102nd Infantry Battalion, 186th Brigade Support Battalion and elements from the 572nd Brigade Engineer Battalion. While it’s estimated the 86th IBCT shipped about half of the vehicles and equipment items it needs for DEFENDER 25, the other half was drawn from APS-2 in Komotini. The portion of equipment that was shipped to DEFENDER 25 arrived at the Port of Kavala, Greece, after several weeks of transport, point-to-point. The APS-2 gear took just a few days.

DEFENDER 25 is the largest series of U.S. Army exercises in Europe involving about 23,000 troops from the U.S., Allied and partner nations. DEFENDER 25 runs from May 11 to June 24, 2025, in 15 countries across Europe. The large-scale exercises and deployment rehearsals conducted during DEFENDER 25 converge U.S. and NATO systems, capabilities and tactics supporting U.S. strategic initiatives and NATO regional plans to dominate multi-domain environments in a crisis. To view more DEFENDER 25 media products, go to www.dvidshub.net/feature/defendereurope. To learn more about DEFENDER 25, visit www.europeafrica.army.mil/Defender.