[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 84 (Monday, June 26, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6489-S6490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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          IN RECOGNITION OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL ROBERT J. RUCH

 Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor LTC Robert J. 
Ruch, District Commander, Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers on the occasion of his Change of Command Ceremony which will 
take place on Friday, July 10, 2006. At that time, Lieutenant Colonel 
Ruch will pass command of the Philadelphia District to LTC Gwen E. 
Baker after providing the State of Delaware and the region with 2 years 
of honorable and meritorious service in carrying out his duties.
  As the 53rd Philadelphia District Engineer, LTC Robert J. Ruch has 
commanded a 500-person engineering organization since 2004 that 
provides national, economic, and environmental security in the heart of 
the Northeast Corridor. His responsibilities have included dredging 
waterways for navigation, protecting communities from flooding and 
coastal storms, responding to natural and declared disasters, 
regulating construction in the Nation's waters and wetlands, 
remediation of environmental hazards, restoring ecosystems, building 
facilities for the Army and Air Force, and providing engineering, 
contracting and project management services for other government 
agencies upon request.

[[Page S6490]]

  Established in 1866, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Philadelphia 
District encompasses the 13,000-square-mile Delaware River Basin and 
the Atlantic coast from New Jersey's Manasquan Inlet to the Delaware-
Maryland line. Within its boundaries are more than 8 million people in 
eastern Pennsylvania, western and southern New Jersey, most of 
Delaware, New York's Catskills region and part of northeastern 
Maryland. It also includes two State capitals--Trenton, NJ, and Dover, 
DE--and the Delaware River ports complex from Philadelphia and Camden, 
NJ, to Wilmington, DE.
  Just in the First State alone, Lieutenant Colonel Ruch's 
accomplishments during his 2-year tour of duty have been impressive. 
They include completion of major storm damage reduction projects at 
Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach and Fenwick Island, considerable progress 
on a new $70 million air freight terminal complex at Dover Air Force 
Base, partnership in a promising program to restore oyster populations 
in the Delaware Bay, commencement of a long-awaited project to reduce 
flood damages in the town of Elsmere, development of a trail concept 
plan to provide recreational opportunities along the Chesapeake and 
Delaware Canal, and even removal of an old abandoned shipwreck from the 
historic Christina River--not to mention a host of other successful 
projects in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, or the fact that all 
this was carried out while many of his Philadelphia district employees 
were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq or helping out down south after 
the Nation's worst-ever hurricane season.
  Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers in 
1986, Lieutenant Colonel Ruch began his military career with the 7th 
Engineer Battalion, 5th Infantry Division, Mechanized, at Fort Polk, 
LA, as a platoon leader and company executive officer. Follow-on 
assignments included liaison officer and company commander with the 2nd 
Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division at Camp Castle, Republic of 
Korea, and the Live Fire Engineer Trainer for the National Training 
Center at Fort Irwin, CA. He then worked as an operations officer in 
the Pittsburgh District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, before moving on 
to Fort Riley, KS, as S3 of the 1st Engineer Battalion, and then of the 
937th Engineer Group, Combat. And just before coming to Philadelphia, 
Lieutenant Colonel Ruch served with Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers 
Europe, Belgium, as the senior staff officer for NATO Infrastructure in 
Crisis Response Operations dealing with operations in Afghanistan and 
in the Balkans.
  Lieutenant Colonel Ruch holds a bachelor of science in geo-
environmental science from Shippensburg University and a master's in 
engineering management from St. Martin's College. He is a graduate of 
the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced Courses and of the U.S. Army 
Command and General Staff College. His military decorations include the 
Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Meritorious Service Medal, 
four oak leaf clusters, the Army Commendation Medal, three oak leaf 
clusters, the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Superior Unit Award.
  After turning over the command of the Philadelphia District to LTC 
Gwen Baker on July 7, 2006, Lieutenant Colonel Ruch will move on to 
Fort Hood, TX, as division engineer of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division.
  I rise today to congratulate Lieutenant Colonel Ruch for a 
distinguished career and to offer my special thanks for his enthusiasm, 
competence and effectiveness in serving the State of Delaware and the 
Greater Philadelphia Region.
  We will miss him in the Delaware Valley and on the Delmarva 
Peninsula. We wish him and his family all the best in the years to 
come, including, as we say in the Navy, ``Fair winds and a following 
sea.''

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