Courtesy Photo | The 405th Army Field Support Brigade hosted a farewell dinner for Herb Gately Nov. 17...... read more read more
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – “Serving Soldiers and their families is the greatest calling an American can have,” said Herb Gately. The program analyst in the Contract Management Support Office at the 405th Army Field Support Brigade and Soldier for Life was recently honored during a farewell event in Kaiserslautern Nov. 17.
A lifelong member of the Army team who signed his name on the dotted line in the mid ‘80s as a high school dropout, Gately is leaving the 405th AFSB after nearly three years and returning home to Texas with his wife of 30 years to where their two children and six grandchildren reside.
“As a high school dropout, the Army provided me a certain level of discipline that I really needed, and it changed my life. I retired with a master's degree in program management and as a U.S. Army chief warrant officer 2, promotable,” said Gately, who served for nearly 21 years in uniform, 5 years as a contractor in direct support of Soldiers, and now 15 years as an Army civilian employee.
Gately will be returning to Fort Hood and the 407th Army Field Support Brigade to continue serving as a valued member of the Army team. While at the 405th AFSB, he took to task multiple roles and responsibilities.
Besides serving in the Support Operations Directorate at the brigade headquarters managing multimillion-dollar Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 contracts, he also served as the site director at the Coleman APS-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, and before that as the chief of quality assurance, there.
“A great team can make even the hardest situation easier, and that's how I felt as their director,” Gately said. “My team made a significant impact on world events occurring all around us at that time, directly supporting units deploying to Europe from the United States and supporting real-world operations in Europe. Being the director at Coleman at that time was fantastic because I had a fantastic team.”
“And the people at the brigade headquarters are equally amazing. I have a lot of respect for the brigade leadership. I want to thank them for the opportunities and the trust they afforded me,” said Gately.
For his exceptional service, technical knowledge and dedicated leadership supporting the 405th AFSB as a program analyst since August of 2024 and for the multiple leadership positions he held at APS-2 Coleman, to include site director, the 62-year-old Soldier for Life and blood-on-the-risers Paratrooper till death was presented the U.S. Army Civilian Service Commendation Medal recently by his leadership before his departure from Germany and return home to Texas.
“I joined the Army in April of 1984. I love the Army. Always have. Always will,” he said.
The 405th AFSB is the premier logistics integrator and synchronizer for U.S. European Command, enabling readiness solutions to ‘Support the Warrior’ by operationalizing U.S. Army Materiel Command capabilities and delivering readiness within the U.S. Army Europe and Africa areas of responsibility at the point of need.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging AMC’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: | 11.19.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.19.2025 01:10 |
| Story ID: | 551668 |
| Location: | KAISERSLAUTERN, RHEINLAND-PFALZ, DE |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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