U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers

The oldest branch in the Army and the only one with a dual combat and civil works mission. Combat engineers breach obstacles, build bridges under fire, and clear routes. The civil works side built America's dams, levees, waterways, and flood control systems. From the Gap Assault Teams at Omaha Beach to route clearance patrols in Iraq to rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina - the Corps of Engineers builds it, fights through it, and rebuilds it. Essayons.

"Essayons" - Let Us Try Est. 1775

EST. JUNE 16, 1775

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

USACE - Build & Fight

Branch Insignia

COMBAT + CIVIL WORKS

The Corps of Engineers is the oldest branch of the United States Army - and the only one with a dual mission. Combat engineers fight alongside maneuver forces, breaching obstacles, building bridges under fire, and clearing routes. The civil works side built the nation's dams, levees, waterways, and flood control systems. The red castle insignia represents both: the fortress they build and the fortress they destroy. "Essayons" - Let Us Try - because engineers don't say they can't. Read more

Explore Collection

Building a Nation 1775 - 1940

WEST POINT · 1802

Fortifications & West Point

The First Military Engineers

Bunker Hill Fortifications

USMA Established

COASTAL DEFENSE

Washington's first engineers fortified Bunker Hill before the Revolution's first major battle. The United States Military Academy at West Point was established in 1802 as an engineering school - every Army officer was an engineer first. The Corps built the coastal fortification system that defended American harbors for a century. From Fort Sumter to Fort Monroe, engineer-designed fortresses shaped every war through the Civil War. Read more

Explore Collection

RIVERS · HARBORS · DAMS

Civil Works & Waterways

The Nation's Engineers

Miles of Waterways

Miles of Levees

INFRASTRUCTURE VALUE

Congress gave the Corps of Engineers responsibility for the nation's waterways, harbors, and flood control - a civil works mission that built America. The Corps maintains 12,000 miles of navigable waterways, over 700 dams, 14,700 miles of levees, and 240 navigation locks. The Mississippi River system, the Intracoastal Waterway, the Bonneville Dam, the Panama Canal - all Corps of Engineers projects. No other military organization in the world operates a civil infrastructure portfolio this vast. Read more

Explore Collection

Manhattan Project

Manhattan Engineer District

Manhattan Eng. District

BG Leslie Groves

TRINITY · HIROSHIMA

The most consequential engineering project in human history was run by an Army engineer. BG Leslie Groves of the Corps of Engineers commanded the Manhattan Engineer District - overseeing the design, construction, and security of Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos. Groves built entire secret cities from scratch, managed 125,000 workers, and delivered the weapon that ended World War II. The atomic bomb was an Army Corps of Engineers project. Read more

Explore Collection

World War II - Combat Engineers 1941 - 1945

D-Day Beach Obstacles

Gap Assault Teams - Omaha Beach

Gap Assault Teams

Beach Obstacles

Engineer Casualties

OF 16 GAPS BLOWN

On Omaha Beach, sixteen Gap Assault Teams - combat engineers and Navy demolition men - landed in the first wave to blow lanes through the German beach obstacles before the tide covered them. They had thirty minutes. They were hit immediately - many teams lost their demolitions in the surf. Engineers suffered 41% casualties in the first hours. Only five of sixteen gaps were blown on schedule. The men who followed them onto the beach owed their lives to every gap that was opened. Read more

Explore Collection

RHINE · SEINE · ROER

Bridge Builders Under Fire

Bailey Bridges · Pontoon Crossings

Treadway Bridges

Multiple Crossings

Every river crossing in the European Theater was an engineer operation. Bailey bridges, pontoon treadways, and fixed timber bridges went up under artillery fire across the Seine, the Roer, the Rhine, and dozens of rivers in between. At Remagen, engineers kept the Ludendorff Bridge standing for ten days while divisions poured across. When it collapsed, they had pontoon bridges operational within hours. The Army crossed Europe on the backs of its engineers. Read more

Explore Collection

Pacific Engineers

Airfields · Roads · Islands from Coral

On Coral Atolls

ISLAND NEEDED ENGRS

In the Pacific, engineers turned coral atolls into bomber bases, hacked roads through jungles that swallowed equipment, and built the Ledo Road through Burma - 465 miles of road through mountains and monsoon jungle to reopen the supply line to China. On every island, combat engineers cleared Japanese obstacles, demolished bunkers, and then built the infrastructure that turned captured ground into forward operating bases. The Pacific war couldn't move without engineers. Read more

Explore Collection

Cold War & Civil Works 1945 - 1991

MISSISSIPPI SYSTEM

Flood Control & Dams

Mississippi River · National Infrastructure

Dams Maintained

Miss. River & Tributaries

Flood Damage Prevented

HYDROPOWER PLANTS

After the catastrophic Mississippi River Flood of 1927, Congress gave the Corps of Engineers authority over the nation's flood control. The Mississippi River and Tributaries Project became the largest flood control system in the world - levees, floodways, and control structures from Cairo, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. The Corps built the dams that power the Pacific Northwest, control the Missouri, and tame the Tennessee Valley. Over $800 billion in flood damage has been prevented by Corps infrastructure. Read more

Explore Collection

KOREA · VIETNAM

Korea & Vietnam Engineers

Combat Construction Under Fire

Bridges in Winter

Roads · Bases · Ports

Clearance · Every Patrol

ENTIRE INFRASTRUCTURE

In Korea, engineers rebuilt bridges the Chinese destroyed overnight - sometimes building the same bridge three times in a week. At the Chosin Reservoir, engineers built the bridge at Funchilin Pass that saved the Marines. In Vietnam, the scale was staggering - engineers built every base, road, airfield, and port facility in the country. Cam Ranh Bay, Long Binh, the entire logistics infrastructure was built by Army engineers while simultaneously clearing mines on every patrol route in the country. Read more

Explore Collection

Desert Storm - Breach 1991

FEBRUARY 24, 1991

The Breach - Saddam Line

Clearing the Iraqi Obstacle Belt

Line · Obstacle Belt

Wire · Ditches · Berms

Saddam's defensive line was designed to be impenetrable - belts of mines, razor wire, anti-tank ditches filled with oil ready to ignite, and sand berms covering interlocking fields of fire. Combat engineers breached all of it in hours. Mine plows, MICLICs, ACEs, and CEVs carved sixteen lanes through the obstacle belt. The 1st Infantry Division punched through the Saddam Line so fast that the battle plan accelerated by twelve hours. The engineers made the breach look easy. It wasn't. Read more

Explore Collection

Global War on Terror 2001 - 2021

ROUTE CLEARANCE PATROLS

Route Clearance

Route Clearance Patrols

Buffalo · RG-31

#1 Killer in Theater

ROAD · EVERY DAY

IEDs were the number one killer in Iraq and Afghanistan. Combat engineers owned the route clearance mission - driving armored vehicles down every road, every day, looking for buried bombs so convoys and patrols could move. Huskies with ground-penetrating radar led the way. Buffalos with interrogation arms investigated suspicious objects. Engineers absorbed the blasts so others didn't have to. Route clearance patrols were the most dangerous and most essential mission of both wars. Read more

Explore Collection

EVERY BASE · EVERY WALL

Forward Operating Base Construction

T-Walls · Barriers

Helipads · Roads

CONTINUOUS BUILD

Every forward operating base in Iraq and Afghanistan was built by Army engineers. HESCO barriers, T-walls, entry control points, helipads, tactical operations centers, detention facilities, and infrastructure that turned empty desert into functioning military installations. Engineers built bases from nothing, expanded them as units rotated through, and then demolished them during drawdown. Twenty years of continuous construction and demolition. Read more

Explore Collection

Disaster Response When the Levees Break

AUGUST 29, 2005

Hurricane Katrina

August 2005 - New Orleans

Failed · 50+ Breaches

New Orleans Flooded

MILES NEW SYSTEM

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005, the levee system failed catastrophically - over 50 breaches flooded 80% of the city. The Corps of Engineers faced its greatest failure and its greatest test simultaneously. The Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System - $14.5 billion, 350 miles of levees, floodwalls, surge barriers, and pump stations - was built to ensure it never happens again. The Corps rebuilt what the Corps had failed to protect. That accountability defines the organization. Read more

Explore Collection

EVERY DISASTER · EVERY STATE

Emergency Response

Power · Water · Infrastructure

Temporary Generation

Emergency Supply

Temporary Roofing

Every major natural disaster in the United States triggers Corps of Engineers response. Temporary power generation after hurricanes. Emergency water supply after contamination events. Blue roof installations for damaged homes. Debris removal that takes months. The Corps serves as FEMA's primary partner for Emergency Support Function #3 - Public Works and Engineering. When infrastructure fails, the Corps of Engineers is the organization that puts it back together. Read more

Explore Collection

Active Units & Formations Today's Engineers

FORT CAVAZOS, TX

36th Engineer Brigade

Engineer Brigade

Fort Cavazos, TX

Construction · Gen

ENGINEER CAPABILITY

The 36th Engineer Brigade - the Castle Brigade - is the Army's premiere engineer formation. Based at Fort Cavazos, the 36th provides combat engineering, general engineering, and construction capabilities to theater commanders. The brigade deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan repeatedly, building FOBs, running route clearance, and executing every engineer mission in the playbook. Read more

Explore Collection

FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO

Sapper Leader Course & Sapper Tab

Sapper Leader Course

Selection & Training

COMBAT ENGINEER MOS

The Sapper Leader Course at Fort Leonard Wood is a 28-day crucible that tests combat engineering skills under extreme physical and mental stress - demolitions, breaching, recon, patrol, and field craft with minimal sleep and food. The Sapper Tab is worn above the unit patch and ranks among the most respected skill tabs in the Army alongside Ranger and Special Forces. Not every engineer is a Sapper. Sappers are the engineers who proved it the hard way. Read more

Explore Collection

FORT BELVOIR, VA

249th Engineer Battalion

Engineer Bn (Prime Power)

Grid Assessment

UNIT OF ITS KIND

The 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power) is the only unit of its kind in the Department of Defense - electrical engineers and power generation specialists who can assess, repair, and operate power grids anywhere in the world. They deployed to Iraq to restore national power grids, to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and to every major disaster response requiring emergency power. When the lights go out, Prime Power turns them back on. Read more

Explore Collection

249

Years of Service

38

USACE Districts

700+

Dams Maintained

Essayons

Let Us Try