Royal Engineers learn from U.S. Army

Baltimore District
Published May 8, 2013
Capt. Matthew Fry (left), Sgt. 1st Class Solitaire Washington (center), and Maj. Robert Duke (right) board the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District's Debris Vessel 1 in Washington Harbor as part of an Officer's Professional Development training.

Capt. Matthew Fry (left), Sgt. 1st Class Solitaire Washington (center), and Maj. Robert Duke (right) board the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District's Debris Vessel 1 in Washington Harbor as part of an Officer's Professional Development training.

Captain Ben Hancock, a Royal Engineer from the British Army currently working as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, talks to Reservoir High School Advanced Placement Calculus students about the engineering career field and how he uses math on the job.

Captain Ben Hancock, a Royal Engineer from the British Army currently working as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, talks to Reservoir High School Advanced Placement Calculus students about the engineering career field and how he uses math on the job.

Capt. Ben Hancock (left) works with a Fort Detrick contractor to test ducts at the USAMRIID project to ensure containment and that all specifications are met as part of the quality assurance process. Photo by Brittany Bangert

Capt. Ben Hancock (left) works with a Fort Detrick contractor to test ducts at the USAMRIID project to ensure containment and that all specifications are met as part of the quality assurance process. Photo by Brittany Bangert

BALTIMORE, Maryland -- As most engineers know, obtaining a Professional Engineer (P.E.) license is a daunting and difficult task.

From hours of endless studying to maintaining an already demanding workload to ensuring enough time with one's family, passing the P.E. exam seems like a goal always out of one's reach. Now, imagine not only studying, working, and balancing a family, but also doing so in a foreign country.

That's exactly what British Army Captains Matthew Fry and Ben Hancock are doing while at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District.

Fry, a civil engineer, and Hancock, a mechanical and electrical engineer, arrived from the United Kingdom in February and April 2012, respectively, filling the only two foreign officer slots in the entire Corps of Engineers as part of a 16-month training with industry.

"It's a unique program that all British officers are required to participate in to obtain their professional engineering license," said Col. Trey Jordan, Baltimore District commander. "The Corps has a partnership with the Royal School of Military Engineering, and we here at the Baltimore District get to the unique opportunity to host two officers as they complete requirements of a Professionally Qualified Engineer (PQE) course."

The officers' training began with seven months of intensive study in Chatham, Kent, the home of the Royal Engineers.

During those seven months they studied masters-level contract law, structural analysis, drainage and road design, contract law, estimating and project management through a very fast-paced course.

"The course is essentially cramming more than a year's worth of study into seven months," said Fry.

After completing the course, Fry and Hancock travelled to the U.S. for a 16-month assignment at the Baltimore District. The tour consists of 10 months at a field site and six months at the Baltimore District headquarters.

"We get a chance to get our boots dirty and then we move on to the district headquarters to get exposed to the office side of engineering, particularly the financial aspects which we have limited exposure to back in the U.K. military," said Fry.

Fry spent his first 10 months at the Harrisburg Area Office, while Hancock started at Ft. Detrick, Md.

During the 16 months with the Corps of Engineers, the British Army requires Fry and Hancock to meet 15 developmental objectives as part of the PQE course, including identifying engineering problems and implementation solutions.

"It's possible for multiple objectives to be fulfilled by larger projects such as Poplar Island," said Fry, whose contributions to a new, cost-saving, hydrologic structure for Poplar Island will be the focus of his thesis due in May.

Most of the objectives remain the same for Fry and Hancock, but, some of them are specialized.
"A few objectives are tailored to enhance our knowledge in our stream (field) of engineering," said Hancock, who fulfilled many of his electrical and mechanical engineering objectives while working at the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and the Steam Sterilization Pump (SSP) on Ft. Detrick.

Corps of Engineers employees recognize the talents and contributions of the Royal Military Engineers.

"Although the PQE course is primarily intended to afford masters-level engineering experience to the best and brightest of the British Army, it is the U.S. Army who truly profits from this program," said Tony Marcell, supervisory engineer at Ft. Detrick, who has worked with three rotations of Royal Engineers.

Hancock continues this tradition of excellence during his work at USAMRIID, Marcell said.
"Capt. Hancock, like his predecessors, integrated well with our best engineers to solve many complex mechanical problems," he said. "His expertise in advanced mechanical systems and leadership tested on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan gave us an engineer who is capable in any environment, and who can deal well with scholars or tradesmen."

Fry offered a new perspective to the Harrisburg Area Office along with a unique sense of humor.
"We were fortunate to have gotten a chance to work with Capt. Fry as part of the exchange program," said Dawn Conniff, Harrisburg Area Office supervisory engineer. "He brought a fresh perspective coupled with extensive engineering knowledge to the team. He willingly jumped into several construction management and contract administration challenges."

Jordan appreciates the diversity the officers bring to the Baltimore District.

"Their discussions have helped ignite a few ideas in our workforce which might otherwise have never happened," said Jordan. "It always helps me to hear different perspectives, and both Capt. Fry and Capt. Hancock add much more to the district than an unfamiliar accent and great sense of humor."

Not only is the Corps of Engineers benefiting from this opportunity, but Hancock and Fry continue to grow professionally.

"This was my first time working on a construction site and first time in a foreign country so it's been quite a steep learning curve but after working with a diverse, civilian workforce with experts in their stream of engineering, it has allowed me to become a well-rounded engineer," Hancock said. "It's been quite an eye opening experience."

The eye-opening experiences continue beyond the construction sites and into U.S. culture.

"Small differences can catch you off guard," said Hancock. "The idea that you have to drive everywhere was quite foreign to us. When I worked at Ft. Detrick, I lived about a mile from the office and chose to walk to work, which really confused people," he joked. "Many of them would come screeching to a halt, asking if I needed a lift when I really just wanted to enjoy a nice walk to work."

Because of the need to drive from different locations, Hancock and his wife invested in a car.

"We thought we had bought a huge car, only to realize it was lost in the parking lot behind someone else's even larger car," said Hancock.

Although many differences caught them off guard, some have been pleasant surprises.
Fry recalls the first time he fueled up in the U.S and the pump unexpectedly stopped at $40. He was about to complain to the store owner that the pump was broken, when he realized the tank was filled.

"My wife and I started high-fiving each other in celebration of how cheap the gas is compared to back home," said Fry.

Pleasant surprises continue to greet Fry on the streets of Baltimore.

"If I am walking to lunch or getting on the light rail, every day someone will say 'thank you' for your service, or they'll shake my hand or even buy my coffee," said Fry. "That is something we do not experience in the U.K. and that was quite a humbling experience."

This glimpse of respect and friendship is something that Fry and Hancock have become accustomed to while living in Baltimore but both expect their time here to benefit future relations between the U.S. and British Army on a larger scale.

"By working with American engineers, we develop a better understand about how their projects run and how their agencies operate," said Fry. "If we were to find ourselves in operations in the future working with the U.S., we would be in a much better position because we already have that understanding of how the U.S. works."

Fry and Hancock will turn in their thesis in May and head back to the U.K. this summer where they will present to a board full of experts in their field of engineering in order to earn their charter as professional engineers.