Major General Merdith W. B. (Bo) Temple is Deputy Commanding General of Civil and Emergency Operations (DCG-CEO) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As the Nation’s primary planner, designer, builder, and operator of flood control, navigation, environmental restoration, and multiple-purpose water resource projects, he manages the Army’s $9 billion annual Civil Works Program. Additionally, he’s responsible for the federal emergency flood fighting effort, recovery operations, and emergency engineering and public works support in the event of natural or manmade disasters.
As the DCG-CEO, Major General Temple serves as the President of the U.S. Section of the International Navigation Association (PIANC), President of the Corps’ Coastal Engineering Research Board, and Executive Director of the Inland Waterways User Board.
Major General Temple’s previous assignment was as the Deputy Commanding General of Military and International Operations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he was responsible for policy, program, and technical functions in the execution of over $20 billion of design, construction, and environmental programs for the Department of Defense and other federal agencies and foreign countries.
Before coming to Headquarters, Major General Temple served as Commander of the North Atlantic Division for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Previous assignments include duty as the Theater Engineer (C7), Combined Joint Task Force Seven, Baghdad, Iraq and Commander of the Corps’ Transatlantic Programs Center in Winchester, Virginia. He also served as the Assistant Chief of Staff, Operations (G3), XVIII Airborne Corps and commanded both the 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat) (Airborne Corps) and the 307th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Major General Temple has also served with the 44th Engineer Battalion, Korea; was a Platoon Leader with the 548th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Heavy) at Ft. Bragg, and served on the staff of U.S. Army Europe & 7th Army, Germany. He commanded A/307th and later served on the 307th Engineer Battalion staff in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War. Major General Temple also served at NATO Headquarters in Turkey, with the U.S. Army Personnel Command Center in Virginia, and as a Reserve Component advisor with the Readiness Group in Denver, Colorado.
Major General Temple, a Virginia native, was commissioned in the Engineer Branch in 1975. He earned a bachelors degree in civil engineering from the Virginia Military Institute and a Masters degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College, and he is a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Major General Temple’s military decorations include the Legion of Merit (two oak leaf clusters), the Bronze Star Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Meritorious Service Medal (six oak leaf clusters), Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (four oak leaf clusters), the Army Superior Unit Award, and the Master Parachutist Badge.