BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - The Foreign Excess Personal Property (FEPP) program is a process used by the U.S. government to transfer unneeded property permanently to a foreign government, in this case, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Items which fall under the FEPP inventory are often accumulated during base closures and base realignments, where excess property is found and inventoried. This process is helpful in saving tax payer money, in addition to being able to offer assistance to foreign forces.
During a visit to the Ministry of Interior (MoI) Highway Brigade in the beginning of July, a need for maintenance tents for the brigade was discovered. The MoI Brigade, an Afghan National Police unit in Kabul, Afghanistan, had an open motor pool with no cover or sheltered space to conduct maintenance on their vehicles. During the summer months, where temperatures can exceed 100 degrees, conducting maintenance without any kind of shelter can prove to be difficult.
Brig. Gen. Donnie Walker Jr., the 3d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) commanding general, discovered there was a need for tents and challenged his staff to find them for the MoI Highway Brigade. The G4 property book officer, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jene Dasal, began searching for any units that had extra maintenance tents.
Within a few days Dasal found two units that had extra tents, the 45th Central Command (CENTCOM) Materiel Recovery Element and the 10th Sustainment Brigade. Dasal worked with the FEPP manager at U.S. Forces-Afghanistan to get the unutilized tents through the FEPP process so they could be transferred. This process included a legal review and ultimately Walker’s approval in order to transfer the tents to the Afghan Brigade.
After the approval, Dasal coordinated for the tents to be transferred to the MoI Highway Brigade and signed them under a “as is, where is” clause. “As is, where is” ultimately means that the tents were not to be shipped at an additional cost to the U.S. government. Dasal also coordinated for the receiving unit to come from Kabul to Bagram where they received the property.
Due to this great effort by the 3d ESC Soldiers and its subordinate units, the MoI Highway Brigade has protection from the elements while they prepare their units equipment to get back on the road.