MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The working population of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni is scheduled to more than double in size in the coming years. With this large scale change mounting on the horizon, a multitude of projects for the station are under construction to accommodate this growth.
Many checks and balances, measurements and management calls must be made for these projects to happen and to finish construction in a timely manner.
It’s the job of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who maintain the smoothness and efficiency in working sites on and off station to support its Marines and sailors with the completion of upcoming construction.
The Corps of Engineers originated when Congress established the Army with a provision for a chief engineer June 16, 1775. The Corps of Engineers was established as a separate and permanent branch of the Army on March 16, 1802.
“We have a dual role of supporting the construction surveillance heavily for host nation work and holding full responsibility in contract administration and quality assurance for military contracted construction,” said C. Alex Morrison, Jr., USACE, Japan District, Iwakuni program director and resident engineer. “A tremendous amount of work goes into the front end of these construction projects with criteria development. My staff here participates and provides insight based on their construction experience as they do designs and continual reviews to develop the criteria package and reviews of the actual designs.”
There’s a handoff once the criteria package has been designed, completed and moved on to the construction phase. This is when the staff becomes heavily involved as they do construction surveillance and facilitate the ability of Chugoku Shikoku Defense Bureau and their contractors to do their work and access the station on a daily basis, said Morrison.
A major priority of the Corps of Engineer staff is performing fieldwork to ensure everything which was agreed to, documented and designed is put together and implemented on the ground.
Morrison said 75 to 80 percent of the facilities are going to be newly constructed or reconstructed, and it’s all being done in a short time period.
“To participate in something this massive, to participate in what’s going to change Iwakuni forever, is quite rewarding,” said Morrison.