[StBernard] engineers

[Westley Annis]

While many people may have been unfamiliar with the engineering profession,
Katrina certainly created a public awareness of what engineers do.  As I
reflect on my profession as a civil engineer, I take pride in the oath of
the civil engineer to uphold public welfare and safety as paramount.  Unlike
an attorney who has a responsibility to the client or the physician who
swears to do no harm, my professional code requires allegiance to the public
as primary. I contrast this to the military engineer. While today's civil
engineer is usually a product of a university, today's military engineer
usually comes from a military academy, with West Point being the training
ground for the U.S. Army's engineers. The military engineer is taught
battlefield strategy, tactics, and that collateral damage is perfectly
acceptable to achieve the mission. While a civilian engineer, like me, finds
it unacceptable for anyone to perish, the military engineering approach is
different because it geared for war. Society accepts the military engineer's
approach that property will be damaged, lives will be sacrificed, duty will
be fulfilled, and the end will justify the means because, after all, it is
war.  Make no mistake, the Corps of Engineers is the Department of the Army.
Leadership is military, not civilian at the higher levels. The Corps is at
war against hurricane flooding. The engineering reasoning and logic is that
of the military trained mind, not the civilian mind. In war, risks are
acceptable, and collateral damage is acceptable in order to accomplish the
mission. St. Bernard, N.O. East, and the 9th Ward are collateral damage for
the Corps' mission to provide the 100 year level of hurricane protection by
2012.  So just tell the public it's a war and some of us and our property
are expendable in order to save others.  Deborah Keller,PE and CIVIL
engineer.