RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – Two clear and concise words from 405th Army Field Support Brigade Deputy to the Commander Joseph Scheff summarized the 405th AFSB’s Budget Working Group held at the Ramstein Officer’s Club April 16-18 on Ramstein Air Base – highly successful. And U.S. Army Sustainment Command’s Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Resource Management (G-8) agreed.

“This is a really unique opportunity where we get to bring all of our great resource management minds together to collaborate, to be educated, and to share experiences and perspectives so that we can be more successful as a team in executing ASC’s resources,” said Meghan Peterson, who traveled from Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, as one of the special guests attending the 405th AFSB Budget Working Group.

The theme for this year’s budget working group was resource management in a fiscally constrained environment, and some of the key highlights were a panel discussion, lessons learned from operations supporting Ukraine and the current financial landscape in Europe.

For the panel discussion, members of the panel included Naomi Gentle, the Budget Execution Branch chief at 21st Theater Sustainment Command; Carlos Castillo, a 21st TSC budget analyst; Brandon Cooper, the chief of ASC’s Brigade Execution Division (G-8); Suleymanu Muhammadou, the 405th AFSB Resource Management (S-8) director; and Peterson.

“It was an engaging panel with lively discussion moderated by Ms. Meghan Peterson,” Muhammadou said. “For Lessons learned in Ukraine, the discussion focused on valuable insights from resourcing and executing operations in support of Ukraine. In addition, we also explored the current financial environment in the European theater and the potential challenges if supplemental funding isn’t secured.”

Muhammadou said through collaborative discussions, participants at the 405th AFSB Budget Working Group were able to hone their skills in:

• Business Explorer to Business Objects transition: transitioning core financial reports from BEX to Business Objects, focusing on building and customizing new reports.

• Prioritization: making tough choices and maximizing impact with limited resources.

• Efficiency: identifying areas for streamlining processes and optimizing resource allocation.

• Communication: effectively conveying financial information to leadership and stakeholders.

• Audit Readiness: building strong audit readiness, a key focus area.

“It’s also very important to meet the other analysts,” said Jean-Christophe Philippe, a program analyst at Logistics Readiness Center Benelux, who traveled to the budget working group from Chièvres Air Base, Belgium. “Face-to-face time, I think is important. When we’re connected, we feel like one team. And by doing this on an annual basis, you go back to the roots, you learn things the other people do that you don’t necessarily do, and you may have solutions for the other people that you can share.”

“I want to send a huge thank you to all the resource managers and program analysts who participated. This collaborative effort will ensure the 405th AFSB is well equipped to navigate the complexities of resource management in the face of fiscal constraints,” said Muhammadou.

“We very much appreciate the opportunity that the brigade commander and the DCO have given to us, allowing us to come in and to take time with their staff – to take them away from their day jobs and really just spend time learning together,” Peterson said. “It’s very important and critical, especially during times when we are challenged on the resource management side. We want to make sure that we are educating ourselves and using our resources to the best of our abilities to be successful on behalf of the command.”

The 405th AFSB is assigned to ASC 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 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.