SAME Revises Strategic Plan

It has been a busy and gratifying two months since I assumed the role of President of this great Society. In May, I participated in the Joint Engineer Education and Training Conference & Expo in New Orleans. My thanks go to the Louisiana Post, SAME HQ, exhibitors, sponsors and attendees, who all made the week a great success. Highlights from the week included a Mardi Gras parade at the Ice Breaker event, the Honors Luncheon on Wednesday and many informative technical sessions and tours. At the Thursday luncheon, we recognized the members of the uniformed services and the contractors who responded to the hurricane recovery efforts. We heard from Bruce Wilkinson, CSP, Workplace Consultants Inc., who gave a dynamic presentation and rallied the crowd of more than 1,000 attendees to its feet in celebration of our engineering profession. The week was capped by the Society Ball. It was a truly inspiring, productive and enjoyable week.

In June, I chaired the Board of Direction meeting. We had an all-time high in Board attendance, with 85 percent of the voting members present. We held some lively discussions regarding our Strategic Plan and the restructuring of Sustaining Memberships. Dr. Bob Wolff, Executive Director, has provided a summary of the Board meeting in this newsletter (see page 3), but I would like to highlight some of the discussion and decisions.

First, we added another focus area—increasing our role in K-12 outreach programs—to the three major focus areas I previously described in the June issue of SAME News. Our new focus areas are:

• Develop and implement national, regional and Post programs that support public sector participation.
• Revitalize and realign SAME’s readiness program to support the National Response Plan.
• Facilitate industry support to the uniformed services in the development and realignment of military installations.
• Assess the role of SAME in K-12 outreach programs to address the nation’s shortage of U.S. engineer graduates.

We added the outreach focus area to help address the national problem of producing too few new engineers in the United States. SAME already has been involved in several successful K-12 outreach programs. For example, the three SAME Engineering and Construction Camps now reach out to about 100 high school students each year. These camps are teaching students about military engineering and influencing them to pursue engineering. The camps also are providing an opportunity for SAME Young Members to serve as mentors. The result has been a very rewarding experience for all involved. I visited the SAME/U.S. Air Force Academy camp earlier in my career, so I have seen first-hand the value these camps provide.

Also, our Posts have been involved in K-12 outreach through MATHCOUNTS, science fairs and other activities. There are many worthwhile activities out there—we just need to identify them and determine which activities are best aligned with the SAME mission. Clay Kelly, P.E., Strand Associates, who is a member of the Kentuckiana Post, is chairing a new Task Force to make this assessment and present recommendations to the Board. Clay met with the Society of Women Engineers in June and plans to meet with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers in the near future to discuss partnership opportunities with their respective K-12 outreach programs. This is important as SAME seeks to incorporate diversity into its K-12 outreach efforts.

During the Board meeting, we also spent a great deal of time discussing the scope of SAME’s interest in national security. We discussed how we view our activities outside the United States, and how response to natural and man-made disasters fits into our concept of national security.

In the international arena, the Board agreed that SAME should recognize the role of military engineers in countries of strategic importance to the United States. This role is especially important during reconstruction efforts following a war or natural disaster. The role of military engineers in the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan is helping to set the conditions for economic and social stability that will promote peace and prosperity.

The International Committee, in coordination with the Pacific, Europe and Middle East Regional Vice Presidents, was tasked with developing an objective in the Strategic Plan to guide SAME’s support to military engineers performing these important missions.

The Board approved an initiative to automatically award the National Security Streamer to our active Posts in Europe, the Pacific and the Middle East. These SAME Posts are providing training, education and networking opportunities to our uniformed services and contractors in support of national security. The streamer formally recognizes that support, and I compliment the Board on its decision.

Let me take this time to welcome and thank the SAME members in Kuwait for standing up the newest SAME Post. They will add to the Society’s contributions, and provide great value and support to our service men and women who are serving in that country.

Although we decided not to change the mission statement, the Board changed one of the goals in our Strategic Plan to emphasize the National Response Plan and the non-military aspects of national security. The Goal now reads: National Security and Emergency Response. Support national security engineering and emergency response related priorities and programs, domestically and internationally, including preparedness and response to natural and man-made disasters. [Changes appear in italics.] These were good changes, and I thank the Board for the discussion and updates to the Strategic Plan.

I encourage you to review the SAME Strategic Plan, which was included as an insert in the July-August 2006 issue of The Military Engineer. If every member works toward achieving the goals set forth in the plan, then our Posts, Regions and national HQ all will align in our efforts to accomplish our mission.

Have a great summer. I look forward to meeting many of you throughout the year.

Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, P.E.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
SAME President, 2006 – 2007