OK, I'm a Vietnam veteran - and old guy, but in my day, general officers didn't wear branch brass. They were "general officers." This evening I saw a Lt. General wearing Corps of Engineer brass on his uniform. Is this something unique to the Corps of Engineers or have things changed since I served on active duty?

Trench55 said:

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OK, I'm a Vietnam veteran - and old guy, but in my day, general officers didn't wear branch brass. They were "general officers." This evening I saw a Lt. General wearing Corps of Engineer brass on his uniform. Is this something unique to the Corps of Engineers or have things changed since I served on active duty?

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He is the Chief of Engineers. They have always worn the Castle.
All of USACE's District (O6s) and Division(O7s) commanders also wear it.

They have been wearing them at least since the 1880's.

Chief of Engineers

Thanks Rabid Cougar. Guess I never saw an Corps of Engineer general during my active duty time. In fact, other than seeing Corps of Engineer folks building fire bases and base camps in Vietnam, I don't remember any contact with those folks. Appreciate the information and the history lesson.

Trench55 said:

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Thanks Rabid Cougar. Guess I never saw an Corps of Engineer general during my active duty time. In fact, other than seeing Corps of Engineer folks building fire bases and base camps in Vietnam, I don't remember any contact with those folks. Appreciate the information and the history lesson.

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I don't think he is in the chain of command of maneuver force engineers, similar to the ones you had contact with Vietnam.

This general is over all military construction on Air Force and Army bases in the U.S and abroad. He has command of only one regular army unit... a Prime Power unit with large generators that supplies electricity to cities and hospitals during disasters. He is also over all Civil Engineering Infrastructure such as the big flood control lakes, the intercoastal water way, the harbors and navigation locks and dams on the rivers plus some hydropower plants. We, USACE, also work for FEMA during disasters, manage and oversee construction contracts for DoD, USAID and State Department in foreign countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan ( also military construction on bases). All of our funding is at the behest of Congress. Congress loves to funnel funds to their districts through USACE work.