MANNHEIM, Germany — February 16-22 is National Engineers Week, and Army Field Support Battalion-Germany General Engineer Ken Chang said he is proud to be the facilities engineer supporting the Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim.
In fact, Chang was the first AFSBn-Germany employee to be permanently located at the APS-2 worksite. Weeks before his battalion took mission command of the site from Battalion Mannheim, which redesignated to Battalion Poland and moved to Powidz, Poland, Chang began working at Coleman.
As Coleman’s resident engineering expert, Chang was directly responsible for helping with that transition. Simultaneously he was working multiple facility engineering improvement projects and infrastructure upgrades at the site as well as at the Dülmen APS-2 worksite and his battalion headquarters in Vilseck, Germany, plus more.
Chang said it’s important to show how engineers are making a difference in Army units, organizations and installations across the globe, and National Engineers Week is a great way to do that.
National Engineers Week promotes educational and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math and celebrates how engineers make a difference. The Army marks the event by highlighting engineers’ achievements, engaging with educational and community groups and participating in various STEM outreach programs and events.
“The fact that we have an entire week dedicated to engineers is huge. It gives us an opportunity to talk about some of the engineering projects we are working on and what we do to support Army operations,” said Chang, who was commissioned into the Army in 1981.
Chang, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel whose last active-duty assignment was in Iraq with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, spent over 20 years in the Indo-Pacific working as an Army civilian employee at garrisons in Hawaii, Korea and Japan before coming to Germany and the 405th Army Field Support Brigade’s Battalion Germany.
With this year also being the Army’s 250th birthday, Chang said he’s happy to be a part of such an important and prestigious organization all these years.
“I am so glad to be a part of the U.S. Army. My entire adulthood has been dedicated to this amazing institution. I received so much during my service, all these years. At this point I’m just trying to pay it forward, little by little, every day. Happy Birthday U.S. Army!” he said.
Chang has accomplished much during his time with the 405th AFSB. The graduate of the Air Force War College and Purdue University, who holds a degree in mechanical engineering, was responsible for purchasing a vehicle exhaust extraction system for one of the maintenance facilities at Coleman. He said he expects it to be fully installed this spring.
In addition, Chang is leading an effort to purchase and install a new permanent lighting system at the Dülmen APS-2 worksite. In the meantime, he helped purchase a portable system that’s doing the job. He also was responsible for purchasing a new climate control system for his battalion headquarters to keep the servers fully operational. He said he expects the climate control system to be installed before summer starts heating up.
“I came here with strong conviction,” said Chang. “I will continue to ensure my work is in line with the commander’s vision while supporting the headquarters and both APS-2 sites. I’m fully committed to providing all the general and facility engineering support needed, and I’m fully committed to the APS-2 mission here in Europe.”
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 AMC’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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