KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – Soldiers with the 45th Quartermaster (Provisional) Company, 45th Sustainment Brigade, provide a place for units in southern Afghanistan to turn in serviceable items they no longer need which can, in turn, be issued to units who need them at the Kandahar Airfield Retro-Sort Yard.
The goal of the Retro-Sort Yard is to reduce waste within the Army supply system and get unneeded supplies to units who can use them.
"The Retro-Sort Yard provides a one-stop shop for Army units to turn in excess and non-mission essential equipment that has accumulated over the past 10 years,” said Capt. Andrew Thomas, commander, 45th QM (P) Company. “We then redistribute these supplies to units that require them locally or return them to the Army supply system, negating the need for the Army to purchase more stocks and saving taxpayer money."
Units located in RC-South, Southwest and West can bring items to the yard 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“The Retro-Sort Yard will take all classes of supply except Class VII [real property], Class V [Ammo] and scrap metal or trash,” said 1st Sgt. Robert Garo, senior non-commissioned officer, 45th QM (P) Company. “The items come from all over the Regional Command, RC-South/Southwest/West, with most items coming from closing forward operating bases.”
The yard’s free issue warehouse is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. thru 6 p.m. and has a wide assortment of items for issue.
“There is no documentation required to pick up any serviceable items,” said Garo. “We have expendable, durable free issue; an updated itemize listing is published weekly for anyone to see what's available to pick up in support of their mission. For example: paper cups, plates, large trash cans, trash bags, printer toners, motor oil, safety cones, wall lockers, copy paper and more.”