As you mention, USACE aligns a division with each combatant command (CCMD) region and maintains a full-time liaison on each CCMD staff to enable their theater security objectives. The Transatlantic Division has been undergoing realignment. How is this progressing?

It’s going very well. As the mission starts to reduce in size and scope in Afghanistan, we recognized the need to realign our structure. Last July, we restructured our support within Afghanistan by combining Transatlantic North and South districts into a single organization. Maj. Gen. [Michael] Eyre, commander of Transatlantic Division, maintains an element forward and he’s heavily engaged not only in Afghanistan but throughout the Central Command area of operations.

All of the restructuring has progressed well. On this year’s anniversary of 9/11, many of us were reflecting on where we were and what we were doing on that day. My job at the time was in the National Military Command Center working as the lead person on the joint staff in terms of operations with the CCMDs. We had a 14-man team and we were tied in with the president and the secretary of defense, and were trying to get 2,000 aircraft to land and to execute the things the nation really needed us to execute at the highest levels.

The Corps had straightened the river because that’s what people had wanted. In the Corps, we don’t build anything we’re not told to build. We must have congressional authorization and appropriation. Congress and the American people had said they wanted the river straightened.

What was impressive for me was that the political leadership understood the readiness and training of our particular team and we were able to execute the things we had been trained on for many months. We had regularly rehearsed to respond to an attack on the United States even though we assumed it was unlikely that would happen. When it did happen, we were trained and ready. Similarly, in USACE I have found that we are highly trained and ready to go whether for a hurricane or tornado disaster relief or any other crises.

In the Transatlantic Division, we recognized the anniversary of 9/11 by closing the USACE Deployment Center, which prepared our soldiers and civilians to forward deploy. This was the office where deployers received their final rounds of equipment checks and training, then moved forward into theater. We’ve combined our efforts with the rest of the Army. Closing the Deployment Center office was a major milestone and to do it on 9/11 was significant for all of us remembering those that served and sacrificed in both conflicts.