Booker T. Washington, the foremost black educator of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, once said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” As we celebrate Black History Month, let us take this opportunity to highlight the struggles, accomplishments, and successes that African-American’s have made to our society and Army.

African-Americans have served with distinction in the American military since the opening salvos of the Revolutionary War. Hundreds of thousands of black troops fought for their freedom during the Civil War, and during World War I approximately 40,000 African-American Engineers helped secure the Allied victory.  In fact, during World War II, 42% of all engineer units were African-American, performing incredible support missions such as building airfields, maintaining roads, repairing bridges, and building hospitals across Europe and the Pacific.

Closer to home, the Army sent African-American engineers to Alaska and Canada to help build the crucial Alaskan Highway, a 1,500-mile-road that would connect Alaska to the United States, enabling our military to channel troops, tanks, and aircraft to Alaska to bolster American defenses against Japanese operations in the Aleutian Islands. 

We’ve come a long way since World War II. As of 2008, African-American Soldiers made up 19.8 percent of the Active Duty Army, 13.3 percent of the National Guard and 22.1 percent of the Army Reserve.

As our Army has matured in how we regard diversity, our Country is still experiencing a shortage of engineers of all backgrounds, particularly among our youth.  Last year, we partnered with a school system in Los Angeles to provide valuable mentoring and leadership to more than 20,000 students.  And just this past September, we contracted with MYI Consulting to help us broaden and diversify our science, technology, engineering and math education and outreach nationwide. 

Our young Americans hold the future of our Nation in their hands, and we owe each of them the opportunity to realize their dreams. That’s just one way we’re BUILDING STRONG.

Van

ltg.van History, Miscellaneous "neat stuff"

Our mission is to provide unique value to the nation through our engineering expertise, whether on the battlefield or at home. One of the key ways we do that is through innovative research — developing groundbreaking science and engineering solutions to help the Army and the Nation overcome an array of complex challenges facing our Nation and our Soldiers. We do this research in USACE labs around the country as part of our Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), which has been named one of the top Army R&D Laboratories for five of the last eight years.

We recently received another honor that I want to highlight because it represents international recognition of a generation’s worth of positive contributions to the science community. ERDC has been named the winner of the 2011 National Association of Corrosion Engineers International Distinguished Organization award for providing 35 years of advanced technologies for infrastructure corrosion prevention and control.

On the surface, preventing and controlling corrosion may not sound as flashy as inventing a new weapons system or missile. But corrosion–or the degradation of materials–can happen to the infrastructure of virtually everything we build, from the rebar in our concrete to the degradation of wood timbers in bridges. Therefore, by preventing material degradation, we preserve the integrity of a critical structure or facility. Some of our recent accomplishments include designing and implementing the world’s first large load capacity (88 tons) thermoplastic composite bridge — which is a bridge made from some 85,000 pounds of recycled plastics — at Fort Bragg, and the development of a specially coated rebar for use in concrete, a technology recently honored by R&D Magazine as one of world’s top 100 technology developments for 2010. These discoveries are vitally important in our work to building the Army and the Nation to last!

Words cannot express the pride I have for the men and women of ERDC who contribute their talents and ingenuity into helping our Army and Nation each day. I am proud to be part of such an amazing, talented and dedicated family of engineering professionals working together to help build our Nation strong!

–Van

ltg.van Miscellaneous "neat stuff", Research and Development Award, Engineer Research and Development

I am proud to share the following letter we recently received from Gen. George W. Casey, the Army’s Chief of Staff.  

Gen. Casey thanks USACE.

ltg.van Gulf Coast Recovery, Military Programs, Miscellaneous "neat stuff", Partnership, Uncategorized

This week, I had the honor of participating in the release of the USACE Office of History’s latest publication, Nothing But Praise: A History of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment.

This book sheds new light on the role of African American engineers during World War II, and in the process, it enriches the history of the entire Engineer Regiment. It chronicles the distinguished wartime service of the 1321st Engineers, which was one of many segregated African American units during the war.

Often operating under adverse conditions, African American engineers played key roles in completing some of the Army’s most difficult construction projects. The 1321st Engineers deployed to France in December of 1944, and supported the Allied drive across Europe. During the months that followed, the unit compiled an enviable record of accomplishments — its engineers repaired bridges, cleared and maintained roads, renovated buildings, constructed hospitals, and built huge supply depots.

We are so lucky that the unit’s commander, Colonel Aldo Bagnulo, did a brilliant job of documenting the unit’s many outstanding accomplishments, and kept dozens of previously unpublished images of African American engineers at work during World War II. This book would not be possible without his attention to detail, or his impeccable record keeping.

A summary of the book and a photo gallery of images is available on the Office of History web page, as well as a link to download the full text of the book.  I encourage you to check out our history and honor it, because the 1321st Engineers were definitely BUILDING STRONG.

ltg.van Miscellaneous "neat stuff"

Well, the holidays upon us, and with that, all the last minute shopping for gifts, groceries and party supplies. For many, this year’s festivities will be more humble than years past, because so many people are cutting back due to the economy. And although there are many people in America who are struggling this year, I recently came across a story from one of our teammates in Afghanistan that just reminded me of how much we have to be thankful for, and how spoiled we really are. It’s so easy to take things for granted, because we are so blessed to live in this great nation.

I hope that you take a moment to check out this story by clicking here - it’s about some of our dedicated servicemembers and civilians serving overseas who are part of a group called “Volunteer Community Relations” (VCR), a command-directed outreach program that provides clothing, blankets, school and other supplies to Kabul’s poor and displaced, and Afghan refugees who are returning from Pakistan. VCR distributed 900 blankets and more than 500 bags filled with toys and school supplies to 300 families in need on the day of this story.  Here are some of the photos to give you a taste:

Volunteers distribute blankets to needy Afghan refugee families. The blankets were made by widows of Afghanistan National Police members. The Volunteer Community Relations program purchased them with proceeds from a donation to help the widows with their small business. (USACE photo by Hank Heusinkveld)

Young Afghan girls, excited by the arrival of their American guests, run towards a line where they'll find bags of toys. (USACE photo by Hank Heusinkveld)

It’s a great little holiday (or any day) pick-me-up.  I hope that your holidays are filled with all the blessings that can only be found by giving of yourself to others. Be safe out there and have a great holiday and a very happy New Year!

ltg.van Afghanistan, Miscellaneous "neat stuff" Afghanistan, Holidays, volunteers

I’ve had a few techno issues lately that knocked out my comments link– but it’s working again! I apologize to those wanting to comment on my blogs. I look forward to hearing from you!

ltg.van Miscellaneous "neat stuff" blog, comments

ltg.van Miscellaneous "neat stuff" deployed civilians, deployed servicemembers, Independence Day, John Adams

ltg.van Corps Projects, Miscellaneous "neat stuff", Recreation campground, Long-term treatment, Recreation, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

I had the honor of representing USACE at an event for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions at Howard University here in Washington, DC recently. They were honoring “top supporters” – organizations, agencies and companies that contribute significantly to HBCUs.
�
The way that we contribute is really interesting. We have a certain amount of money allocated to us each year that is specifically to use with educational facilities, to have them do research or design work, things like that for us. This challenges the students with real world experience, helps us to “build the bench” of the future engineer workforce, and helps us keep costs down, as well.
�
The Army aims to have 13 percent of that education money go to HBCUs. And even though they still have to compete to get it (we can’t set it aside for them, legally), we’ve already surpassed that goal.
�
Not only was USACE among the “top supporters,” but they put my picture on the cover of this month’s US Black Engineer magazine! (I thought it was going to be a small picture in the lower corner of the cover!!) Check it out by clicking here.

I’m really passionate about this effort, because it’s essential in building diversity in engineering, which I know will make us a better, stronger Corps of Engineers.
�
One other cool tid-bit I got from this event – did you know that Howard University was the first institution to offer an engineering degree to African Americans?
�
It was a GREAT day, indeed.

ltg.van Contracting, Miscellaneous "neat stuff" government contracting, historically black colleges and universities, Howard University, Small Business

I would not be where I am today without my best friend, my bride of 35 years, the mother of my children – my lovely wife, Paula.
�
Today marks Military Spouse Appreciation Day. It is so great to see the renewed appreciation that military spouses are getting, with the First Lady’s focus on military families, and with the Army’s commitment to the Army Family Covenant and Community Covenant, which recognize the remarkable commitment and increasing sacrifices our families make every day. I can tell you personally, that Paula has been unbelievably supportive during dozens of moves, deployments, long work hours and many trips that take me away for days on end.�
�
Paula is one of thousands of men and women who deserve our appreciation today, and every day.  The fact that they are Family Strong, makes it possible for those of us in uniform to be Army Strong.
�
And here at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers specifically, we have many employees who are military spouses, as well as many husbands and wives of civilians who experience first hand the challenges of military life, as so many of our civilians have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in support of the rebuilding efforts.�
�
So I would just like to say thank you to the unsung heroes of our military – the spouses – who truly are deserving of our admiration today and every day.�
�
I know this is a subject near and dear to many of your hearts, and many of you will likely want to post a comment. Unfortunately, our ‘comments’ link is currently broken – but my IT gurus assure me that a fix is in the works, so please check back, because I would love to hear what you have to say.

ltg.van Family Readiness, Miscellaneous "neat stuff" Army Community Covenant, Army Family Covenant, Military Spouse Appreciation Day