Photo: St. Paul USACE District Commander Col. Eric Swenson, Karen Kringlie, and Rich Schueneman.
ST. PAUL, M.N. (USACE) – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Baldhill dam resource manager Rich Schueneman received the de Fleury Medal and his wife Karen Kringlie received the Essayons Medal at a ceremony recently in St. Paul.
Schueneman has work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since January of 2000. He will be retiring from his position on Friday, October 7th after nearly 23 years of service.
The de Fleury Medal honors and recognizes those individuals who have provided significant contributions to Army Engineering. The medal also emphasizes the history, customs, and traditions of the Corps of Engineers community.
The medal is named for a French Engineer Francois Louis Tesseidre de Fleury, a French engineer who served with the American Army in its fight for independence from Britain during the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress appointed de Fleury a captain of engineers, and he quickly proved himself through courage under fire. On October 1,1779, de Fleury was praised for his valor by the men who had penned the Declaration of Independence and who would later sign the Constitution. For his intrepid behavior, the Continental Congress ordered that a medal be struck in his honor.
The de Fleury Medal is the highest award for professional excellence in the Engineer Regiment. There are four orders of the medal — Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Steel. The Gold de Fleury medal is normally awarded only to a single individual each year and is the highest honor. The Steel de Fleury Medal is awarded annually to several junior soldiers and civilians within the Engineer Regiment based on input from senior Commanders and their Sergeants Major. While the award is not part of the U.S. Army awards system, it may be worn at official Regimental functions.
Essayons Medal
The AEA Board of Directors have approved a change requested by the Chief of Engineers and the USAES CMDT. The ESSAYONS Award approval authority level is now an Engineer Battalion/District Commander who is an AEA member. It had previously been Engineer Brigade/ District Commanders.
The Essayons Award honors spouses of members of the Engineer Regiment who have made significant voluntary contributions to the morale, welfare, and spirit of engineer units and organizations. The criteria for nominations are: (1) the nominee should be the spouse of an engineer Soldier or engineer DOD civilian; (2) the nominees spouse should be a member of AEA; (3) the nominee should be a spouse who has voluntarily provided significant contributions and support to the Engineer Corps, engineer units, engineer families, and/or multiple communities; (4) most importantly, the spouse must possess qualities that set the individual apart from other Engineer Corps spouses or their peers.
Spouses of military and civilian personnel from the Active Army, Army Reserve, or Army National Guard are eligible. Spouses of retired individuals are also eligible. Approval for this award is the Engineer BN/District Commanders who are AEA members.
