Christian P.M. Klinefelter received the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal on Feb. 5 in a ceremony at the Headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C. Klinefelter received the award for his leadership as the Chief of the Ministerial Engagement Team of the ISAF Joint Command Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Klinefelter, Field Force Engineer Program Manager, has a long history of military and federal service. He is an alumnus of The Citadel, and served 12 years in the Marines, 11 years as an engineer officer in the Ohio Army National Guard, and 8 years in the US Army Reserve, retiring as a colonel. For 4 consecutive years he served on active duty in Iraq, and for a total of 3.5 years he served in Afghanistan as a USACE civilian.
“Servant leadership is my life,” Klinefelter said of receiving the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal. “Leaders have to focus on human capital and leverage its potential to discover each individual’s limitations, capabilities and aspirations. The most powerful tool you have as a leader is to leverage the aspirations of each individual by matching these with how they can best contribute to the mission, so that the organization and each individual benefit as much as possible from a synergistic relationship.”
Klinefelter explained that “USACE has also been my family. The Army and the engineering family make me feel right at home.”