LIVORNO, Italy –
At the age of 18, Bruno Barletta moved from his hometown of Worcester, England, to warmer sunnier Italy. His family was Italian, but his mother and father immigrated to England before he was born. When Barletta graduated from high school, he decided he’d flip the family script and move to Italy.
After completing a year of mandatory service in the Italian army, Barletta ended up in the Livorno area where his uncle lived, and his father still owned an apartment. He was aware of the U.S. Army at nearby Camp Darby and considered employment at the U.S. installation as an option.
His first job at Camp Darby was lawn care maintenance with the Department of Public Works, cutting grass. That was 1984. Now the quality assurance specialist with the 405th Army Field Support Brigade’s Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 program serves as a local national employee with Army Field Support Battalion-Africa at Leghorn Army Depot.
For over 41 years the Army has been an important part of his and his family’s lives, said the 63-year-old father of two adult daughters and husband of 35 years to local gal from Livorno who works as a high school teacher.
“Working for the U.S. Army is one of the best things in my life. It’s way more than just about putting food on the table. The U.S. Army is part of us,” said Barletta. “Celebrating the U.S. Army and celebrating the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday is absolutely something we should and will do.”
“In the U.K., each year they have lots of marches and parades and static displays from the U.K. army for the kids to look at and explore, and the U.S. is similar, I think. There tends to be a strong attachment in states to the armed forces, much like the U.K,” Barletta said. “The Army is here to protect, just like doctors are here to cure. Happy 250th birthday, U.S. Army!”
Barletta worked at the Ammunition Storage Area attached to Camp Darby for several years as a warehouseman, ammunition handler and quality assurance specialist ammunition surveillance, or QASAS. In 1995, as part of a mandatory reduction in forces, he was trasferred to Leghorn Army Depot to work quality assurance.
Unlike many of quality assurance specialists who support the APS-2 program at the six worksites under the mission command of the 405th AFSB, in addition to conducting quality assurance on APS-2 combat vehicles and equipment sets, Barletta also provides quality assurance support to test measurement diagnostic equipment, or TMDE.
“TMDE can be anything from the laptops we use to run diagnostics on the APS-2 vehicles to torque wrenches to gauges for weapons or any other diagnostic equipment and tools that must be calibrated periodically to ensure exactitude,” Barletta said.
For 25 years, Barletta also volunteered as an additional-duty, on-call translator. When a U.S. Soldier was admitted into one of the local hospitals near Camp Darby, often in the middle of the night, Barletta was one of a handful of fluent English Italian speakers who would quickly dispatch to the emergency clinic or hospital admissions to assist the Soldier with translation support.
“I grew up speaking Italian with my parents and siblings in our Worcester home in the U.K., and obviously in school we learned English. We had the best of both worlds,” Barletta said. “Helping the Soldiers in their time of need was important to me, and something I’m very proud of.”
Leghorn Army Depot is one of six APS-2 worksites under the mission command of the 405th AFSB, and AFSBn-Africa is one of four battalions under the 405th AFSB. The brigade is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command, providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging U.S. Army Materiel Command’s materiel enterprise to support U.S. and joint throughout Europe and Africa. 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.
The Army will celebrate its 250th birthday on June 14. For 250 years, the Army has offered endless possibilities and opportunities for service to our nation with over 200 career choices for Soldiers and more than 500 career paths for civilians. To learn more about the Army’s 250th birthday, visit www.army.mil/1775 and check out the DVIDS’s special Army birthday feature portal at www.dvidshub.net/feature/ARMY250.