U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Commander honored as Engineer of the Year.

AFGHANISTAN, Kabul -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Afghanistan Engineer District Commander and District Engineer, was honored with a distinguished service award yesterday as the New Jersey, American Council of Engineering Companies- ACEC - Engineer of the Year.

Col. John B. O'Dowd, who also serves as the staff engineer for Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan, was represented by his father at the 34th Annual Engineering Excellence Awards Banquet ceremony held at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

A native of New Jersey, O'Dowd commanded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District previous to his deployment to Afghanistan.

ACEC is the only national organization devoted exclusively to the business and advocacy interests of engineering companies and dates back to 1905.

Council members, encompass more than 5,500 firms throughout the country that employ more than 300,000 engineers, architects, land surveyors, scientists, and other specialists responsible for more than $100 billion of private and public works annually.

O'Dowd, who could not attend the event, pre-recorded his acceptance speech. A transcript of the speech follows:

"Good evening. I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you tonight. I know that this is always a nice event and during my time in New York District I enjoyed attending every year. I'm really sorry this year that I'm talking to you from Kabul Afghanistan and believe me I'd rather be in Rutgers University, in Jersey, but it's an honor for me to be able to talk to you tonight and to receive this award.

I'd like to thank the association for thinking of me and I'd also like to thank you for allowing my father to come and represent me this evening and accept this award. I was a little worried about him being able to talk to everyone without me having a chance for a rebuttal, so I'm glad we're able to work this out and at least give me the chance to say something. And dad I'm sorry that I'm probably speaking before you but hey, it's my turn I guess.

Again, it is a pleasure and it is nice that my father is there because when I look at where I am today, having worked in the Army Corps for 26 years, I got started in construction with O'Dowd Plumbing and Heating almost 40 years ago. And what I learned about building and working hard I owe it to my father, his brothers and my grandfather. So it's especially nice that he's there tonight to be able to represent me.

As far as what we are doing in the Corps, what we're doing here in Afghanistan is what the Corps of Engineers does everywhere and that's providing for the security of the United States.

We talk about how the priorities of the country now since September 11th are the global war on terror, economic security, homeland security and the environment. The Corps of Engineers is involved with that everyday. During my tenure there at New York District, for the three years I was there, that was what my job was.

We supported the global war on terror by constructing the military facilities from which our troops launch, and from which they're supported. Right there in New Jersey, McGuire Air Force Base and Picatiny Arsenal were two of our major work areas.

We also supported economic security in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The $3 billion dollar project which is important to the state of New Jersey, but is vital to the United States in that it's an economic engine which drives the entire country.

As far as the environment goes there in New Jersey, I was fortunate to be able to work on restoration projects such as Liberty State Park, projects and studies in the middle lands and the Sag River. And unfortunately we were doing a quite of bit of environmental remediation - projects such as the Wayne FUSRAP Site, Maywood Chemical Insecticide, a number of these different sites where we were cleaning up for things that had been done in the past.

My job here in Afghanistan, day to day is a little bit different, but the purpose we serve here is the same. We're supporting daily, the global war on terror.

The U.S. Forces that have been operating here in Afghanistan operate from bases in which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructs the facilities. Right now we're repairing, well actually, building new runways at Kandahar Air Base in southern Afghanistan and at Bagram Air Base. These air bases are our main lifeline for logistics. It's also where the combat aircraft fly from that support our troops out in the field that are conducting operations here seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

And the good news is, I'm happy to be able to report that we're winning this war and that conditions in Afghanistan are getting better. And the amount of combat operations we have to conduct are going down and down and we are now able to get into operations which support the long term security interests of the United States and help stand up the government of Afghanistan.

So as the Corps of Engineers, we're working on projects that deal with the Afghan security sector. We're building facilities for the Afghan National Army. Right now, in the field, there are 20,000 Afghan Soldiers which were trained in facilities built by the Army Corps of Engineers and they have been operating for the last year throughout the country with U.S. and Coalition Forces against the terrorists - the Al Qaeda and the Taliban and those folks who oppose the government of Afghanistan and oppose freedom and democracy.

We've constructed barracks, training sites, for the Afghan National Army. We are now working on logistics facilities, signal facilities, intelligence, and hospitals to treat the Soldiers that are injured when they are out on operations and we've been doing this for the past two years. And right now we're housing, as I've said, 20,000 Afghan Soldiers.

We've begun now building facilities for the police sector. We're working on border crossing points, we're building border police, headquarters, we're building highway police facilities and we're building national police facilities. Right now we've got about 18 sites under construction and there will be more coming this year. These sites are critical because in order for there to be a stable and secure environment in Afghanistan that doesn't support terrorism, it's important not only that you have an army but that you have police and that you can bring the rule of law throughout the nation.

The reason that Al Qaeda was able to operate from Afghanistan is because there was not a rule of law throughout the country. In October we had, in the first time of Afghanistan's history, free elections in which over 8.5 million Afghans, about 85 percent - probably all of those eligible to vote - came out and voted and selected a president for the first time in their history.

And President Karzai received 65 percent of the vote among a field of 19 candidates, which is pretty incredible. And he is working hard to form a central government in Afghanistan that's dedicated to freedom. The Afghan National Army is important to ensure that he can be successful and the Afghan police structure is also important. We're happy as the Corps of Engineers to be able to bring our engineering and construction expertise to the table and support them in that mission.

We're also working on things that will help economic development in Afghanistan because if we're going to have long term peace and security in this country, it's important that we have economic development and that the people of Afghanistan have a means of supporting themselves, and putting food on the table for their families.

And the Corps of Engineers is providing technical assistance to other U.S. agencies primarily for the United States Agency for International Development, and bringing the engineering and construction expertise they require for projects such a roads, schools, clinics and in the future possibly power and water.

These things are vital to the long term security of Afghanistan, just as the Port of New York and New Jersey is vital to the United States security, these roads, schools, clinics, power and water projects are important and vital to the government of Afghanistan's long term security.

So again, I want to thank the association for remembering me and bestowing this award upon me. I want to thank you especially, that you allow my dad to come and to be a part of this evening's dinner.

I am truly sorry that I missed it because I always did enjoy this event. I would tell people that when I went to events in New York City they could be kind of formal and stuffy, when I went to events like the one tonight in New Jersey, I felt like I was at home. So thank you very much. Enjoy the evening and if my dad says anything bad about me, none of it's true. Thank you."

Note: Photos are available upon request.