Photo By Cameron Porter | Michael Drutti, the automotive maintenance supervisor at the Zutendaal Army...... read more read more
ZUTENDAAL, Belgium – When Michael Drutti started working for the U.S. Army in 2018, the Belgian host nation employee at the Zutendaal Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite was a mechanic. After about three years he applied to become a team leader and was promoted. And then after another three years, he applied to be a supervisor and was promoted again.
Now, the 32-year-old resident of Maasmechelen, Belgium, is the automotive supervisor for a team of about two dozen employees at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite. His team is responsible for the maintenance program for all of the light-wheeled vehicles stored and maintained there, plus all the electronic communications equipment and armament systems across the entire site.
“The U.S. Army’s given me a lot of opportunities to grow since I started here less than eight years ago. I started as a mechanic and worked my way up to where I am now,” said Drutti, whose team does all the maintenance on all of the APS-2 Humvees, trailers, forklifts, container handlers and mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles at the site.
“I’m where I’m at today because of the opportunities my leadership at Zutendaal provided me. They believed in me, and when someone believes in you this helps you grow,” said the father of three girls and life partner to their mother for over 15 years.
Drutti said he believes in his team as much as his supervisors believe in him, if not more. Under his leadership there are two team leaders and 15 mechanics working the light-wheeled vehicle maintenance mission at Zutendaal. Also, there is a team leader and four electronics specialists working the maintenance mission for all communications equipment and one armament systems expert.
“We’re doing all the scheduled maintenance on all these vehicles and equipment pieces from beginning to end. We also do surveys in the warehouses, and we fix things on the spot,” Drutti said. “For example, if a vehicle has a breakdown while it’s being operated during an exercise or another mission, we’ll fix it on the spot. That’s a good example of unscheduled maintenance, which we are also 100 percent responsible for.”
Drutti and his team are assigned to Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux (AFSBn-Benelux). He said as their supervisor he mainly manages his team’s schedule. He said he works with production control to plan their maintenance schedule at least 30 days in advance to ensure they are always ahead of the plan and everything is in order.
“I have one of the best teams I could possibly wish for,” said Drutti. “They are always very helpful and always do great work. I’m very proud to be a part of such an amazing group. I’m very happy with my management and the leadership here at Zutendaal and AFSBn-Benelux, too. I’m extremely happy to be a part of this incredible team.”
The Zutendaal APS-2 worksite maintains APS-2 equipment designated for a sustainment brigade and separate reporting units, plus three operational projects. The site encompasses 80,000 square meters of warehouse space in 28 warehouses as well as 500,000 square meters of outdoor storage.
AFSBn-Benelux has mission command of the Zutendaal site and the Eygelshoven APS-2 worksite in the Netherlands and is charged with providing and coordinating receipt, transfer, storage and maintenance of APS-2 at the two sites and at equipment configuration and hand-off areas, forward.
The Zutendaal and Eygelshoven sites are two of six APS-2 worksites across Europe under the command and control of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. The 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program enhances U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s readiness and capability to support the warfighter while simultaneously promoting stability and security in the region.
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 the U.S. Army Materiel Command 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.
| Date Taken: | 06.30.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.30.2025 04:38 |
| Story ID: | 501847 |
| Location: | ZUTENDAAL, BE |
| Hometown: | MAASMECHELEN, LIMBURG (VLG), BE |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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