(Editor's Note: Engineers Week is this month and we wanted to take the opportunity to spotlight members of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center and Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center team doing great things for the Air Force and civil engineering community.)
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- Meet Maj. Christopher A.J. Edlund, the Facility Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization Program Validation chief in the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Facility Engineering Directorate, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.
What are your main responsibilities?
I am the chief for programming FSRM projects that require AFCEC or Air Staff approval.
What is the best thing about your job?
Interacting with many installations across a diverse set of missions and geographic locations. I have learned a lot about the functional and geographic major commands, their focus areas and how those priorities drive facility investments to support the mission.
As a child, what job did you want to have when you grew up?
I’ve always wanted to fly airplanes.
What made you pursue engineering as a career?
The fact that I enjoyed math and science, and always had a hunger to understand “how things worked” translated well into my engineering career.
What is your favorite part about being an Air Force CE?
People interaction and working with diverse teams is the part I enjoy the most. Working with individuals that bring varied skills to solve hard problems is fun and memorable.
Why is your job important to the Air Force mission?
Facilities – buildings, infrastructure, airfields – provide the platform from which we project all forms of air power. Ensuring those facilities are designed, constructed and maintained properly is essential to the success of every other mission.
What advice do you have for someone new to the engineering field?
My best advice is to network with peers. Ask questions of your peers and learn as much as possible about what we do in our career field.
What motivates and inspires you the most?
Knowing that I am part of a team that is accomplishing important things every day, in order to ensure the safety of our nation and our Allies.
If there was one engineering marvel or achievement that you could have been a part of, what would that have been and why?
I would have loved to be a part of building the Alaska Highway during World War II. Engineering a project of that scale in an arctic environment presents unique challenges that include balancing environmental conservation, energy conservation, logistics and creative problem solving. The speed at which engineers designed and built the highway were unprecedented (construction finished in one summer), especially considering the harsh environment in which they were working. The Alaska highway is one of the major military engineering achievements in recent history, and it would have been an awesome adventure to be part of such an important project.