Major Rachel A. Honderd, PMP, Deputy Commander, Kansas City District, United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and SAME Greater Kansas City Post Vice President Matt Metcalf, who is a PE and Director of Federal Programs for Tepa, LLC, gave presentations to more than 45 incoming Engineer Officers from Class 13-01 at the Fort Leavenworth Command and General Staff College (CGSC) on July 27.

Maj. Honderd discussed the District's missions of local and nationwide impact along with potential career opportunities in a USACE district. Maj. Honderd also presented an overview of how the Kansas City District addressed two simultaneous natural disasters with the 2011 Missouri River flooding and the Joplin tornado response.

Metcalf discussed the benefits of SAME membership and described the many activities and events undertaken by the GKC Post, which the national SAME designated a Distinguished Post in 2011. GKC Post Members Al Osborne and Melissa Kelley also briefed the group on their experiences with SAME and highlighted how active involvement in the organization has helped benefit their careers.   Melissa noted that all CGSC students are welcome to participate in Post activities throughout the year when available. 

Matt Metcalf, Greater Kansas City Post Vice President, and Samantha Baker, UMKC Student Chapter President, represented the Society at the Convocation for incoming students to the School of Computing and Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Aug. 19. The event also included representatives from other professional societies and organizations including EWB, ASCE, ASME, Student Council, MSPE/NSPE, ACM, NSBE, ACI, DBIA, IEEE, SWE, Robotics, Honor Societies, and SIFE. Metcalf and Baker visited with students and encouraged them to join the Student Chapter and shared with them the mission of the Society and the benefits of becoming a Student Member.  More than 15 new students joined the Chapter during the event.

When asked to write a short article to discuss the who, what, when, and where of readiness exercises I thought back to all the training exercises and sand drills I completed throughout my 19 year military career and how this would apply.

What: A readiness exercise boiled down is simply a plan. I recently completed the Engineer Captain Career Course at Ft. Leonard Wood. A large portion of this training was devoted to the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP). If you are familiar with the military then you will likely understand the process and appreciate the thought that goes into the final product in the form of orders directing and synchronizing who does what, when, and where. You may not realize that you have performed a readiness exercise in your own personal life. Think about the last time you planned a vacation and the synchronizing of people, logistics, and what if scenarios that could spoil the fun. Just ask my wife about the itinerary I created for our honeymoon. The itinerary had every day planned out almost to the hour. Needless to say she planned the next vacation which was much more relaxed.

Why: The next thing you learn after spending great effort on different courses of action during the MDMP is that the plan only survives first contact (i.e. things change that you did not anticipate or plan for). This is where readiness exercises show their value by giving leaders the opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills to react to changing scenarios. You can only plan for a limited amount of scenarios. However, by practicing in the form of readiness exercises everyone from the top to the bottom has an opportunity to participate and make mistakes. This leads us to a key reason why we perform readiness exercises. It is simple. When lives are on the line, we cannot risk making mistakes due to lack of preparation. One of the drivers for performing readiness exercises is the fear of the unknown. We counter this fear through preparation. We are all human and make mistakes. We also learn from mistakes.

Who: Everyone has a purpose and role in the readiness exercise. Whether in a leadership or follower role, everyone is needed to successfully execute the plan. Within the readiness exercise everyone should know what their role is and how they fit in. One of the great benefits about the readiness exercise is that everyone gets to practice their role, work out the kinks, then re-fit and re-tool for the next exercise or for the real event.

When and Where: In the Army there is a saying that you train to standard and not to time. This means you keep training until everyone from top to bottom knows their role, is synchronized with the plan, and can execute as a whole unit. The successfulness of the readiness exercise will determine the frequency and schedule of the next exercise. Readiness exercises can be conducted anywhere. During deployments, we sometimes conducted rehearsals with nothing more than sand, rocks, and string.

In conclusion, a readiness exercise is nothing more than having a plan and practicing the plan. What you put into the readiness exercise will determine the outcome during the real event. The amount of preparation and effort will determine whether your practice will make perfect or your practice will make permanent.

January-August 2012

1. Review the status of current investments.
2. Evaluate prospective investment options for $155,000 the Post Board of Directors approved for depositing into EM Endowment investments.
3. Perform a best practices outreach to learn about recently available investment vehicles in the market place that may be desirable and consistent with the EME Investment Policy.  
4. Assess the balance among the asset classes within the portfolio per the Investment Policy and prepare a strategy, plan, and schedule to rebalance the portfolio, if advisable. This type of review should be done at least once a year.
5. Create a recommended course of action and submit it to the EME Board of Directors for Consideration, discussion and action at their Aug. 10 quarterly Board meeting.

Attending the meeting were EME Investment Committee members identified in the EME Investment Policy. Also, attending was Greg Sherf our account executive at Merrill Lynch, our master account custodian.

Donald R. Curtis, Jr., P.E., F. SAME assumed the EME Investment Committee Chair from Dave Howe, P.E., F.SAME who completed his two year term in Dec 11. Curtis' term as Chair of the Council of Fellows will be for two years. As such, Curtis serves as Chair of the EME Investment Committee and the EME Operations and Supervisory Committee for a two year term. Jerry Adams, F.SAME, serves as Vice Chair of the Council of Fellows and will follow Curtis as Chair of the EME committees for a two year term.

1. Curtis asked Sherf for comments and the status of the EME's current investments. Sherf presented an information packet with financial information data about each of the investment accounts, the type of asset class in it, its value, and its present percent of the total investment compared to the EME investment policy guidelines.
2. Prospective investment options were discussed for the $155,000 +/- the Post Board approved Post Treasurer Al Osborne to deposit into EME. These options focused on themes and asset classes we do not now have in the portfolio, though are authorized in the EME Investment Policy. Master Limited Partnerships and Private Equity positions were discussed. Private Equity issues still require a much larger amount of capital than we have. Also, the option of scaling up the amount of capital in existing investment instruments was addressed.
3. Sherf reported on the best practices outreach we requested to learn about available high quality investment vehicles that are consistent with the EME Investment Policy. One high quality vehicle had recently become available for the scale of capital we have. It offers the broad diversification across many asset classes included in the EME Investment Policy. It is a blend of Equities and Fixed Income (60 percent Equities and 40 percent Fixed Income). Named the High Quality & Dividend Yield Stock and Tactical Mutual Fund, this vehicle possesses desirable risk/return/diversification characteristics.      
4. Rebalancing the portfolio is an investment best practice that should be done once a year. This is achieved by applying cash held in the portfolio and incoming new cash into current and to be acquired asset classes. Usually, the percent value range cited in EME Investment Policy is reached without selling invested shares. Spreading the risk of market value fluctuation over time is important. This is achieved using tranches and the amount of funds in each tranche. The number of tranches and dollar amount in each results from calculations and judgment. For our situation, the rebalancing assessment involved a strategy to transition into the High Quality & Dividend Fund using a planned seven month schedule and one tranche per month.
5. The recommended course of action with rebalancing was submitted in writing to the EME Board of Directors. Also, a draft copy of the Letter of Instruction was included for their familiarization and review. The Letter of Instruction and a copy of the regularly scheduled EME meeting minutes are required before Merrill Lynch may implement any transaction. The EME Board of Directors unanimously passed the recommended course of action at their 10 August 12 quarterly Board meeting.

The EME Board Meeting minutes and Letter of Instruction have been forwarded to Merrill Lynch.

July Luncheon

7/26/2012

Topic: Maj.-Gen. Godrey Weitzel - The Engineer Who Captured Richmond!   

Speaker: William (Bill) Quatman, FAIA, DBIA