405th AFSB commander visits Humanitarian Assistance Program team in Livorno

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405th Army Field Support Brigade

The commander of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade made a site visit to the Humanitarian Assistance Program team in Livorno, Sept. 22. Pictured here, Col. Crystal Hills poses for a photo with the Livorno HAP team. (Courtesy photo)

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Photo by: SETAF-Africa Public Affairs 

LIVORNO, Italy – The commander of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade made a site visit to the Humanitarian Assistance Program team in Livorno, Sept. 22.

The HAP team, which reports to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency but is administratively assigned to Logistics Readiness Center Italy, 405th AFSB, greeted Col. Crystal Hills and provided her with a briefing and a tour of their facility.

A Department of Defense program, HAP should not to be confused with the Department of State’s Foreign Disaster Response mission.

Janine Wick is the HAP program manager at Livorno. She said, unlike FDR, HAP is not intended or able to meet urgent, rapid issue needs. Instead, HAP missions align with partnership building and steady state support and sustainability, and take more time to plan and execute.

“HAP is there to help meet some of the basic, non-emergent social needs of the people where HAP support has been requested,” Wick said.

Often referred to as HAP projects and intended to support and sustain the local civilian populace, HAP missions are initiated by U.S. embassies and approved by DSCA, said Wick.

“We’re there to help these supported governments so they can better perform their civic assistance duties. That’s our bottom line,” Wick said.

Helping to advance U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives, DSCA donates non-lethal excess property to foreign allies and partner nations in times of need and during crises, using HAP. There are three HAP excess property warehouses and teams around the globe – one in Albany, Georgia; one in Okinawa, Japan; and one in Livorno.

In April, the Livorno HAP team supported thousands of displaced Ukrainians entering Moldova by providing sleeping cots and generators. The team has supported hundreds of humanitarian assistance missions over the years and stands ready to support additional ones upon request.

The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. Forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging the U.S. Army Materiel Command materiel enterprise to support joint forces.