Joint Logistics Board Visits Navy's Strategic "Hub of the Med"

By Joe Yanik / NAVSUP FLC Sigonella

NAS SIGONELLA, Italy -- Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Sigonella, Command Task Force-67 and Naval Air Station Sigonella co-hosted Rear Adm. Peter G. Stamatopoulos, Director of Logistics, U.S. European Command , and 18 other members of the EUCOM Joint Logistics Board Aug. 15-16 2019, here, for an in-depth look at how the base executes its mission as the Navy’s strategic hub of the Mediterranean and how NAVSUP enables combat capabilities for Fleet, Ashore and Expeditionary forces operating across Europe.

Among the JLB members were representatives of the EUCOM Logistics Directorate (ECJ4), U.S. Naval Forces Europe, U.S. Air Force Europe, U.S. Marines Forces Europe, U.S. Army Europe and the 598th Transportation Brigade from Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Special Operations Command Europe and Defense Logistics Agency Europe-Africa.

“By directly engaging the Navy team in Sigonella - the ‘Hub of the Med’, logistics experts across the Joint Logistics Enterprise saw firsthand the extraordinarily critical role Sigonella plays in enabling global operations,” Stamatopoulos said. “Sigonella’s team of patriots directly provides logistics expertise to the Joint Warfighter, Allies, and partners that are critical to our warfighting readiness in Europe.”

From a NAVSUP perspective, Capt. Alsandro Turner, NAVSUP FLC Sigonella Commanding Officer, said the JLB’s visit allowed for meaningful, face-to-face dialogue about topics of interest in the European area of operations.

“As important as it was for senior members of EUCOM’s joint community to see the how our people support the Navy and Joint Warfighter here at NASSIG, the JLB visit offered us an important opportunity to address their questions that are specific to the European AOR, discuss present and emerging challenges that hinder mission success, and solutions to overcome them,” Turner said.

On-site mission briefings delivered to the JLB took place at the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution Sigonella warehouse, Navy Munitions Command Detachment Sigonella facility, an RQ-4 Global Hawk drone hangar, the San Cusumano fuel depot and the Augusta Bay NATO Pier. The group also toured a P-8A Poseidon aircraft and observed a refueling simulation of NAVSUP’s pantograph fuels system.

The expertise NAVSUP FLC Sigonella delivers to the Warfighters at NASSIG include products and services in customs, fuels, hazardous materials and household goods management.

“By hosting the JLB leaders here in-person, they were able to directly observe how NAVSUP is a force multiplier by delivering our products and services in way that accomplishes mission success for the combatant commanders’ strategic objectives at the Naval Forces Europe-Africa and European Command levels,” NAVSUP FLC Sigonella Site Director and Action Officer LCDR Ryan Stickel said.

A tenant command of NAS Sigonella, NAVSUP FLC Sigonella is one of NAVSUP’s eight globally positioned logistics centers that provides for the full range of the Fleet’s military operations. NAVSUP FLC Sigonella delivers solutions for logistics, business and support services to the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Joint and Allied Forces throughout Navy Region Europe-Africa-Central.