Chief of Engineers of the United States Army | |
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Department of the Army | |
Reports to | Secretary of the Army Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) |
Seat | The Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, U.S. |
Appointer | The President with Senate advice and consent |
Term length | Four years |
Constituting instrument | 10 U.S.C. § 3036 |
Formation | April 1776 |
First holder | LTC Rufus Putnam |
Website | Official website |
The Chief of Engineers is a principal United States Army staff officer at The Pentagon. The Chief advises the Army on engineering matters, and serves as the Army's topographer and proponent for real estate and other related engineering programs. The Chief of Engineers is the senior service engineer for the Department of Defense, responsible for integrating all aspects of combat, general and geospatial engineering across the Joint Force.
The Chief of Engineers also commands the United States Army Corps of Engineers. As commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Chief of Engineers leads a major Army command that is the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency. This office defines policy and guidance, and it plans direction for the organizations within the Corps. The Chief of Engineers is currently a lieutenant general billet but in the past has been held by field grade officers as low as major. Civilian oversight of the Chief of Engineers is provided by the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works).
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is a direct reporting unit and engineer formation of the United States Army that has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil works. The day-to-day activities of the three mission areas are administered by a lieutenant general known as the commanding general/chief of engineers. The chief of engineers commands the Engineer Regiment, comprising combat engineer, rescue, construction, dive, and other specialty units, and answers directly to the Chief of Staff of the Army. Combat engineers, sometimes called sappers, form an integral part of the Army's combined arms team and are found in all Army service components: Regular Army, National Guard, and Army Reserve. Their duties are to breach obstacles; construct fighting positions, fixed/floating bridges, and obstacles and defensive positions; place and detonate explosives; conduct route clearance operations; emplace and detect landmines; and fight as provisional infantry when required. For the military construction mission, the commanding general is directed and supervised by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for installations, environment, and energy, whom the President appoints and the Senate confirms. Military construction relates to construction on military bases and worldwide installations.
Daniel Isom Sultan was an American general. Sultan was born in Oxford, Mississippi, and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1907. He entered the United States Army Corps of Engineers and rose through the ranks, teaching engineering at West Point from 1912 to 1916, before travelling to the Philippines. He oversaw construction of fortifications on various islands, and eventually was in charge of all US Army fortification work in the Philippines. He then served on the War Department General Staff and the general staff of the American Expeditionary Forces until 1922. Sultan led the Nicaragua Canal Survey and commanded American troops in the country from 1929 to 1931, when he returned to the United States and wrote a report on the canal.
In the United States Armed Forces, a lieutenant general is a three-star general officer in the United States Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force.
Francis Bowditch Wilby was a major general in the United States Army who served as the 39th Superintendent of the United States Military Academy from 1942 to 1945, during World War II.
The structure of the United States Army is complex, and can be interpreted in several different ways: active/reserve, operational/administrative, and branches/functional areas.
Wilhelm Delp Styer was a lieutenant general in the United States Army during World War II. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point with the class of 1916, he was commissioned into the United States Army Corps of Engineers and served with the Pancho Villa Expedition and on the Western Front. Between the wars he obtained a degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was executive officer and assistant district engineer of the New York Engineer District.
'Engineer-in-Chief or E-in-C', is a Colonel Commandant of the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers, Frontier Works Organisation and the Military Engineering Services of Pakistan. In the Pakistan Army, the Engineer-in-Chief is a chief engineer and topographer of the Army and currently holds the rank of Lieutenant General, advises the Pakistan Army in matters of science, engineering, and technology.
Major General Merdith Wyndham Bolling "Bo" Temple was a senior officer of the United States Army who served as the Acting Chief of Engineers and Acting Commanding General of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) from 2011 to 2012. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Engineers and Deputy Commanding General.
Thomas Paul Bostick was the 53rd Chief of Engineers of the United States Army and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since the creation of West Point in 1802 as the Nation's first engineering school, Bostick is the only African American graduate of the academy to serve as the Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Following his military career, Bostick served as the Chief Operating Officer and President of Intrexon Bioengineering. He serves on the Boards of CSX, Perma-Fix, Fidelity Investments' Equity and High Income Fund, HireVue, and Allonnia. He serves on the non-profit boards of Resilient Cities Catalyst and American Corporate Partners, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to assisting U.S. Veterans in their transition from the armed services to the civilian workforce. He is also a Forbes Contributor.
Daniel Robert Hokanson is a four-star general in the United States Army who currently serves as the 29th chief of the National Guard Bureau. He previously served as the 21st director of the Army National Guard. His previous military assignments include serving as vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, deputy commander of United States Northern Command, adjutant general of the Oregon National Guard, and commander of the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Just Cause. Hokanson assumed his current assignment on 3 August 2020.
Major General Ewart Gladstone Plank was a United States Army career officer who was a veteran of World War I and World War II. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, he was ranked 44th in the class of 1920. He was commissioned in the Coast Artillery Corps, but later transferred to the Corps of Engineers. During World War II he commanded the Advance Section, Communications Zone (ADSEC).
^ a: Office of History. "Commanders of the Corps of Engineers". United States Army Corps of Engineers . Retrieved 28 November 2009.