Experiences at US Army Corps of Engineers

I did not have any word processing experience when I started at the Corps. They provided training on Microsoft applications. Similarly I did not have much experience using Lexis Nexis or other legal research programs. I learned about federal land use planning such as clearcutting in forests, wetlands, grading, etc.. I had to learn Corps and Air Force policy and regulations on the acquisition, management and disposal or Army controlled properties. I was introduced to delegations of authority, the chain of command, protocol. I attended courses in federal contracts, appropriations, tort claims and environmental subjects at the Judge Advocate School. I worked full-time and attended George Washington University and earned an LLM degree in Environmental Law. I am 3 hours short of having a masters degree in International Law. I learned about CERCLA, natural resource laws, NAFTA, immigration law and its impact federal program. I learned about team playing. I interacted with intraagency and interagency personnel, congressmen, state and local governmental officials and congressmen....

Everything. The nature of the work. It was a great environment to work in - great people, continuing educational opportunities offered by the Corps. It was a hands-on environment and immediate involvement in meetings and the development of key policy.

One of the toughest problems I had to solve was developing an Administrative Fee Schedule establishing uniform schedule of fees to be charged for processing outgrants at Army controlled civil works projects. Once the fee schedule was completed I had to prepare guidance to the field. We received alot of negative responses from the public about the schedule's implementation. They were accustomed to free government services.

I was the liaison to the Department of the Air Force. The Department of the Air Force modified and threatened to revoke several of its delegations of authority. I had to attend meetings to learn about the Air Force's policies and the real estate problems they were encountering in administering their properties.

There were alot of issues I encountered with the Corps - justifying changes in delegations of authority; the Alaska pipeline had several issues; overlap between base closure and active military installations; problems arising at installations in Texas rumored to be undergoing realignment or closure. I was responsible for civil works actions (dredging) along the Mississippi River....

Everything. I enjoyed processing complex real estate actions at active bases as well as bases undergoing closure. I enjoyed actively participating on environmental workgroups and performing on site inspections. I enjoyed working in the Pentagon. I enjoyed attending meetings and working with high level officials. I also updated Army regulations and policy documents....

Provide legal advice to senior officials and field personnel regarding the management and disposal of Army administered military and civil works projects. Persuaded senior officials to approve actions. Improved efficiencies of processing real estate actions by requesting and processing delegations of authority. Processed actions involving the Panama Canal, particularly environmental concerns. Attended meetings regularly. Performed legal research and reviewed contracts on a daily basis....

Persistence, good grades, team player, people skills, great references and good work history.

For ten weeks I worked on the development of three different research projects. My work included computer programming, project numerical modeling as well as physical scaled modeling.