The Military Engineer L No. 66353 Q Q U.S. Army engineers have taken on some of the hardest challenges our nation has faced throughout its history. Leader Pro?le Robert W. Burkhardt, SES It appears your organizational mission is no longer an engineer mission, and yet the AGC is a Major Subordinate Command under USACE. How do you see the organizational relationship of USACE, AGC and your customers? I certainly dont agree with the sup- position of the question that ours is no longer an engineer mission. Clearly, U.S. Army engineers have taken on some of the hardest challenges our nation has faced throughout its history. Our geo- spatial engineers possess unique skills, understandings and tools to address one of the Armys most vexing prob- lems today: the transfer of war?ghting situational knowledge from one soldier to another and one unit to another. Our geospatial engineers understand the basic principles of aligning all spa- tial and temporal data onto a precise, geometrically-based foundation. The concept of a geographic information system is innate in all that engineers do—from recon to planning to execu- tion and sustainment. We are providing an engineering ser- vice to our war?ghting partners in help- ing them to manage their digital data, manage their functional content so it can be shared, do analytical analysis on those data and, in some cases, collect geospatial data. What we as engineers take for granted—organizing data in spatial or temporal layers—is today very dif?cult for our system developers to understand. Developing standards across stovepipes and building these capabilities into our war?ghting sys- tems can also present challenges. Our organizational relationship is very clear—we are a Major Subordi- nate Command of USACE, providing geospatial engineering support, solu- tions and data to the nations warriors, enabling them to make better, timelier decisions, winning more while reduc- ing casualties. We are following in the great traditions of our regiment in solv- ing engineering problems for our na- tion. They just happen to be geospatial engineering problems. What do you see as the role of engineer units in the production, interpretation, or employment of geospatial information? Engineer units are like all other units in the Army—collectors of situationally- relevant information, or data. This information is extremely useful to all war?ghting functional areas. In fact, one could always count on engineers to notice, properly locate and understand the utility of many aspects of the ter- rain. Engineer recon has always played a disproportionate role in the planning and execution of moving Army forma- The Army Geospatial Of?cer and Director of the Army Geospatial Center (AGC), formerly the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Centers Topographic Engineering Center, discusses the roles and responsibilities of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) newest Major Subordinate Command.
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