[StBernard] engineers

[Westley Annis]

Interesting line of thought.  However, remember this:  The Secretary of the
Army is a civilian.  The head of the Corps may be military, but he answers
to a civilian.  In addition, the head of  DOD is a civilian also as is the
Commander in Chief.

It should not be a difficult thing to do to train COE engineers for two
lines of thought; one for military situations/solutions and one for
non-military, aka civilian public works projects.  That, in essence, is what
the COE is tasked to do for SELA.

Just my own non-engineer two cents worth.

JLY





	-----------------------------------------------------
	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.