412th THEATER ENGINEER COMMAND BY MAJ. AL AN MOSS
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U.S. ARMY RESERVE PHOTO BY SGT. 1ST CLASS CLINTON WOOD
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he 412th Theater Engineer Command (TEC), headquartered at the George A. Morris U.S. Army Reserve Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi, is one of only two units of its kind in the American military. The TEC provides command and control of theater-level engineer operations levels above brigade in support of unified land operations. The TEC provides mission command of all Army Reserve engineer assets in 21 states east of the Mississippi River. The 412th Theater Engineer Command commands three brigades, a Regional Support Group (RSG), and five direct reporting units (DRUs) totaling nearly 13,000 Soldiers. The brigades are the 411th Engineer Brigade based at New Windsor, New York; the 302d Maneuver Enhancement Brigade based in Chicopee, Massachusetts; the 926th Engineer Brigade located in Montgomery, Alabama; and the RSG located in Springfield, Illinois. The DRUs are the 206th Digital Liaison Detachment, the 207th Digital Liaison Detachment, the 368th Forward Engineer Support Team-Main, the 608th Construction Management Team, and the 475th Explosive Hazards Coordination Cell. An engineer two-star general, Maj. Gen. Stephen Strand, commands the TEC, focusing the proper emphasis on unit training/readiness during peacetime employment and the proper emphasis on the theater engineer mission required for emerging threats and possible near-peer adversaries. The TEC provides theater-wide engineer support as well as engineer support to forces deployed within a joint operations area; geospatial support; construction; real property maintenance activities; line of communications sustainment; engineer logistics management; base development; and theater infrastructure repair, or development as required. It serves as the senior engineer headquarters for the theater Army as well as all assigned or attached engineer brigades and other engineer units. When directed, it may also command engineers from other services and multinational forces and provide oversight of contracted construction engineers. The TEC’s combat capabilities consist of mobility augmentation, clearance, and Sapper companies. The construction capabilities are vertical, horizontal, engineer support, and multirole bridge companies. The TEC mobilizes and deploys to any theater and operates as the senior engineer headquarters to command, plan, and control engineer assets within the theater of operations and acts as the senior engineer adviser to the theater commander. The TEC deploys an early entry deployable command post (DCP) with all of these capabilities. Additionally, the DCP can expand and tailor its size to the operation as the mission requires.
U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Mathew Annis, top left, and Spc. Aldrich Cushnie of the 287th Engineer Detachment (firefighting team), 368th Engineer Battalion, 302d Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 412th Theater Engineer Command, based in Danvers, Massachusetts, are assisted by Victor Basabe and Edwin Hernandez, emergency medical technicians, Haz-Mat Operations, Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), as they remove a “victim” from a car accident during the New York City Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Event Response Demonstration at the Times Square Church, July 10, 2018. The FDNY, in concert with U.S. Army North, conducted the training event.
