FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo., - The U.S. Army Engineer School hosts the annual Engineer Regimental Conference this week with a theme of "Building Great Engineers 2."
Col. Bryan Watson, USAES commandant, greeted leaders from around the regiment and signaled the kickoff of ENFORCE at Abrams Theater, Monday.
"What I need you to get out of this gathering, is how you can contribute to your engineer regiment during this week," Watson said.
Watson impressed upon the audience the importance of the engineer regiment, within the Army.
"We are a regiment - but more importantly - we are a profession. And the Army has a dependency on certain sub-professions. They are absolutely fundamental to a campaign quality Army with expedition capabilities - you must have them," Watson said.
Watson asked the engineers to update their job descriptions, in order to improve the regiment as a whole.
"You have to think to yourself, 'what is our responsibility to the Army''" Watson said.
He listed several responsibilities leaders have in shaping the future of the engineer regiment.
"First of all, we are a body of people. It's not about equipment; it's not about technologies; those are not as important as the people. A profession is people, and they are recognized as such because they provide unique work," Watson said.
It requires an education and it requires a practice of that profession, Watson said.
We will talk about this throughout the conference, Watson said.
The conference addressed the engineer responsibilities to the Army in panel discussions, breakout work groups, and many other meetings.
While leaders were discussing how to better-develop their people, Soldiers had a chance to give engineer vehicle system designers feedback.
Engineers discussed improvements to the latest version of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle - during the industry display at Nutter Field House, Monday and Tuesday.
"They (industry) are the ones that provide these up-armored vehicles that save Soldiers' lives in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Sgt. 1st Class Stoney Mulford, 232nd Engineer Company, 94th Engineer Battalion.
Mulford survived an IED attack in Iraq thanks to an MRAP, he said.
During the industry display, he spoke with Jason Peters, British Aerodyne Systems design engineer - MRAP manufacturer - about possible modifications.
"It's very nice. I was talking with this gentleman (Peters) about design - things they might want to change to help the Soldiers out," Mulford said.
"This is a brand new vehicle, and we're here trying to get feedback and always looking for improvements," Peters said.
The industry display was just one of many opportunities for Soldiers to affect the engineer regiment during the conference. For more information about ENFORCE, visit www.wood.army.mil/enforce.
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