Courtesy Photo | Stuart Hodge III is the property book officer for Logistics Readiness Center Benelux...... read more read more
BRUNSSUM, Netherlands – ‘Soldier for Life’ can mean many things to many people. For Stuart Hodge III – while no longer wearing the Army uniform – Soldier for Life means continuing to serve and continuing to support the warrior as an Army civilian.
“Letting go completely from the Army wasn’t an option for me. I loved it too much,” said the property book officer for Logistics Readiness Center (LRC) Benelux in Brunssum who served for 10 years as an active-duty Soldier and was a staff sergeant when he completed his duties in uniform before transitioning to Army civilian.
Hodge, who is 35 years old, served as a supply sergeant with the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade (Cyber) at Fort Meade, Maryland, on his last active-duty assignment. While taking off his camouflage uniform and combat boots wasn’t an easy decision, he said he knew he wanted to keep serving, and he knew the Army was where he wanted to be. So, while still at Fort Meade, he applied and was hired by the National Security Agency as an Army civilian employee.
After a little more than two years with the NSA, Hodge made another important decision. He applied for a position with LRC Benelux, 405th Army Field Support Brigade (405th AFSB), in the Netherlands and was immediately hired. But that’s not the first time he’s lived and worked in the Netherlands, he said. When he was a Soldier, he did a three-year tour at Allied Joint Forces Command (JFC) Brunssum, working fuel movements at the joint headquarters’ logistics directorate (CJ4), and loved it.
“I deployed to Afghanistan four times from there, usually for three months each,” said Hodge, who is now LRC Benelux’s property book officer since September of 2024 supporting five locations. The locations he supports are the Army Prepositioned Stocks -2 worksites in Eygleshoven, Netherlands, and Zutendaal, Belgium, plus U.S. Army Garrison Benelux Brunssum, JFC Brunssum, and another APS-2 worksite in Dülmen, Germany.
“I’m there for the hand receipt holders when they have questions or when any discrepancies come up. It’s a lot of networking, really,” said Hodge, who manages and maintains the Command Supply Discipline Program for U.S. Army Garrison Benelux Brunssum and is responsible for 27 hand receipt holders, mostly garrison directorates including a couple of facilities at NATO’s JFC Brunssum.
Hodge said as the property book officer for LRC Benelux, he’s responsible for about $5 million dollars’ worth of inventory that’s hand receipted down to the 27 directorates, sections, divisions and offices he supports. He and his co-worker – a Dutch host nation employee – assist all 27 hand receipt holders with conducting 100 percent inventories on an annual basis and 25 percent inventories quarterly.
As part of the Command Supply Discipline Program, or CSDP, they are also responsible for doing inspections to ensure their hand receipt holders are following prescribed guidelines and performing their hand receipt tasks and duties in accordance will all applicable regulations, policies and procedures.
Being a Soldier for Life extends to his spouse, Erin Hodge, too. Just like her husband, Erin also served for 10 years on active duty as a Soldier but worked in preventive medicine. Now she’s a U.S. Army Reserve Soldier and staff sergeant with the 7th Mission Support Command headquarters, based out of Kaiserslautern, Germany.
“It’s not easy for her, just because of the distance. She drives three, three-and-a-half hours one way each month to Kaiserslautern for her Reserve duty,” said Hodge who met his wife while they both were on active duty and have been married for 10 years this month.
LRC Benelux is one of eight LRCs under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. LRCs execute installation logistics support and services to include supply, maintenance, and transportation as well as clothing issue facility operations, hazardous material management, personal property and household goods, passenger travel, non-tactical vehicle and garrison equipment management, and property book operations. When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Benelux directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Benelux.
LRC Benelux reports to the 405th AFSB, which is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern. 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 U.S. Army Materiel Command’s 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: | 07.09.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.09.2025 03:57 |
| Story ID: | 542279 |
| Location: | BRUNSSUM, NL |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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