|
Blackanthem Military News
|
Last Updated:
May 16, 2012 - 4:45:44 PM |
|
|
Blackanthem Military News
 |
| Prior to embarking on a recent flood overflight mission COL Hofmann and Rex Goodnight check their river maps. |
For a man in uniform he wears many different hats!
No single mission, myopic focus nor simple purpose is his wont. Proverbially speaking, he is a man with multiple fish frying, balls in the air and irons in the fire. He is Anthony J. Hofmann and one very busy U.S. Army colonel!
Every day, this lean, intense, West Point Academy graduate of 1990, juggles an amazing array of engineering activities. And if the near frenzied norm is not enough, presently he and those of his command - the Kansas City District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - face the daunting chores of double duty disasters.
Late May of this year a monstrous, category EF-5, tornado with a funnel nearly a mile wide and winds ranging from 166 to 200 mph ravaged two Missouri communities in a six mile swath of devastation. And then, but a few days later, the largest flood in the history of the Missouri River – since records began being kept in 1893 – roiled downstream inundating farmland and threatening communities.
Seated behind a desk that clearly showed both a sense of organization by its occupant and the extent of work he daily faces, he leaned forward and, with sincerity readily evident, said, “From the moment we learned of this disaster we knew we had a professional obligation – and personal commitment - to do everything in our power to assist the citizens of Joplin and Duquesne. So, as soon as the search and rescue efforts were completed we were prepared to mobilize our forces in debris removal. Our intent was to respond to the State and local leaders’ desire to rebuild these communities as expeditiously as possible. We received our mission on May 27th and the next day had facilities leased, from which we would direct our efforts, so work could begin.”
And work they did. Among a plethora of activities, the Kansas City District constructed eight temporary facilities as schools for those damaged or destroyed, two fire stations and 346 housing units. Pausing briefly as he recounts some of the District’s other tornado related work, he stated, “The intensity with which our folks worked re-affirmed my long held belief in the excellence of character and work ethic held by my colleagues. I was proud to be on their team.”
Then there’s that issue of a flood shortly thereafter.
For the first time in a many years, both the upper and lower basins of the Missouri River faced unprecedented flooding at the same time. The result of record breaking plains and mountain snowpack melt coinciding with rainfalls that exceeded projections by 300 to 600 percent bode substantive difficulties for all along the Big Muddy.
Having successfully faced flood fights four of the last five years, those of the Kansas City District once again buckled down in their attentions to the over 1,100 miles of levees along the river in their district. Besides those large earthen berms, there were a myriad of other relative chores: Sand boils to find, evaluate and – around many – build ring dykes, freeboard (the height between the flood water and levee) to monitor, necessary reinforcing seepage blankets to install, and scores of other engineering specific tasks.
But yet more is heaped on the District’s plate. There’s that Afghanistan Engineer District North reach back mission coordinating, contracting and executing construction projects some ten time zones away!
In but a few minutes, seated at a teleconference call with ten Kansas City District engineers and several of their counterparts on the other side of the world, technical discussion was overheard on two massive Afghanistan construction projects, one the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior and the other, the National Police Command Center. Early in the Kansas City morning, mid technical papers and drawings strewn around speaker phones, sometimes foreign sounding “tech talk” - to the ears of non-engineers - by these professionals, resolved site specific design challenges in a place where evening neared.
The originator of this reach back concept was Kansas City District veteran Rex Goodnight. Following his return from deployment in Afghanistan he noted that the Corps’ in-country assets were faced with “too much work and too few people.” As a result, the Kansas City District initiated the first such reach back effort to assist in “time critical events” and, as a result of their success, is presently briefing nine other stateside Corps districts on the process.
On a normal day, without these three “extra” missions that take up to 25% of his work force’s time, COL Hofmann must be sensitive to the sometimes dramatically divergent dictates of eight different congressionally mandated Corps directives regarding the Missouri River. These include flood control, irrigation, water supply, navigation, recreational, hydropower, and water quality as well as fish and wildlife. Each of these has its own, direction specific, mandates, requirements, and rules that, sometimes, conditions that place in conflict.
Then there are all those other, rather pedestrian, normal and daily efforts of planning, managing and executing civil works, military, environmental and emergency response programs. . . . District normalcy, if one will!
Caught briefly between meetings, inspections and general oversight duties he was asked how it is that he and his team are tasked with such a variety of tasks. In the shortest of history lessons, he says simply, “Firstly, we’re engineers.” He then recounts how that West Point was established by Congress in 1802 as our country’s first School of Engineering. “Beyond that,” he adds, “many are unaware that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the largest public engineering, design and construction management agency in the world.”
Looking up from a document he is preparing to sign and authorize, he states simply, “And, I am, after all, an engineer officer.”
That he is.
Twice before he has been assigned to U.S. Army Corps of Engineer districts. Early in his career he was with the New Orleans District as a project engineer, project manager and Chief of Safety, Security and Occupational Health. From 2006 to 2008 he commanded the Walla Walla District, responsible for the execution of a diverse civil works program over 107,000 square mile area encompassing parts of six states.
Perhaps first and foremost he is also a soldier, thus, no stranger to combat as he was an active participant in Operation Iraqi Freedom while with the 3rd Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions, was actively involved with Intrinsic Action in Kuwait with the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division and was also deployed to Kuwait in support of Task Force 3-77 Armor, 3rd Infantry Division.
Rising to head out to check on the levees, he says “But, as I’ve said, at the core of it all,” he caught himself in an involuntary pun, smiled and then continued, “we’re engineers here!”
With that, off he strode. There was work to be done.
Comments
NO Soliciting.
Comments with links to websites or soliciting services will be removed.
Please read our Terms of use for more information.
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
