USACE News

May

10 May 2020
Memphis Builders: Behind the Mask III
This next builder of the care facility really stood out to me – and it wasn’t the side by side braids either. It was her presence. Have you ever just met someone who gives off a certain type of aura or energy that makes you feel a little more calm or at ease? This person had it. Here from St. Joseph, Missouri, her name is Jonna Henry, and she works for a subcontractor in Safety. I guess her occupation explains that aura I felt earlier.
1 May 2020
Memphis Builders: Behind the Mask II
Building this FEMA-assigned Alternate Care Facility requires a great variety of skill sets; that’s quite obvious to most people. What isn’t so obvious is just how many of one skill set a person can find in a matter of two days and two floors worth of construction workers. After meeting Anthony Bell on Tuesday this week, the Low Voltage Technician from Memphis, I thought that was a pretty unique job title to be honest. I’d actually never heard of it before.
April

29 Apr 2020
Memphis Builders: Behind the mask
Walking around the Alternate Care Facility construction site, people are usually focused on what workers are doing, not so much the people themselves. And if you’re like me, you’re also very focused on the ground as you don’t want to trip and fall over something as simple as a little cord. But, it’s important to get to know the people doing the work. They are the ones making this facility a reality after all. They are also the people sacrificing time with their families, working 12 hours a day and seven days a week.
28 Apr 2020
Thank you: Building a facility of hope
The team of people building a facility made to care for people who contract the COVID-19 virus are working around the clock to make sure that if our local hospitals can't handle the caseload at that time, no one gets turned away. We want to thank all of our workers out there making this alternate care center ha reality. No matter what part of the team a worker is on, each is important and contributes an invaluable knowledge and skill to this facility of hope and care.
21 Apr 2020
Corps electric engineer ‘makes’ much needed shields
It’s no secret our country is experiencing a shortage of face masks. Ever since this virus was declared a pandemic, even those working in hospitals can’t seem to get their hands on the very medical supplies they need to do their day-to-day job. Some hear of the shortage and scramble to get their hands on whatever masks they can find, but not Navigational Electrical Engineer Jeffrey Farmer and the nonprofit group he’s apart of called the “Midsouth Makers.”
20 Apr 2020
Power of the pump, no telework
While many people are at home working in front of a computer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have people out in the field operating equipment and facilities that, at this point in time, cannot be controlled from a workstation at home. The Graham Burke Pumping Plant is one of those “pieces” of equipment that requires people to be on-site for safe operation. Pumping Plant Operator Leaderman William “Billy” Ray and Pumping Plant Operator John “Brady” Foran are two of those valuable employees who are called upon to run one of the Corps’ most valuable facilities.
16 Apr 2020
Big Island, Below Senath seepage remediation projects awarded
The Memphis District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded Task Orders to construct two seepage remediation projects in Arkansas and in Missouri.
14 Apr 2020
Ready to Advertise despite COVID-19
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District recently met a ‘tasker’ milestone known as “Ready to Advertise” for the Clack and Norfolk Seepage Remediation Project, all while adapting to newly placed COVID-19 work procedures. About ten days before BCOE (Bidability, Constructability, Operability, and Environmental) certification, Project Delivery Team members Jeremy Ruffell, John Hudson, Kevin Keller, Conrad Stacks, Brian Johnson, Josh Koontz, and Andrew Smothers, along with many other USACE employees, were sent home for mass telework.
13 Apr 2020
$10M contract awarded for ACM casting
The Memphis District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded a $10 million contract for articulated concrete mattress (ACM) casting at Richardson Landing Casting Field to Mississippi Limestone Corporation from Friars Point, Mississippi.
6 Apr 2020
Army Dive Team, MVM completes critical stringout repairs
The 74th Army Dive Detachment Team, with the help of several of our Ensley Engineer Yard skilled tradesmen, recently repaired sections of a highly critical structure here at the Memphis District Ensley Engineer Yard. The vital structure this team spent time repairing is known as the stringout, which to many might look like a pier or dock.