New commander of the Walla Walla District Lt. Col. Richard Childers addresses outgoing commander Lt. Col. Christian Dietz during his remarks after assuming command.

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Lt. Col. Richard T. Childers on Friday, July 24, assumed command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, during a change of command ceremony held at the district’s facility.

With the passing of colors, Childers succeeds Lt. Col. Christian N. Dietz, who commanded the Walla Walla District for the past two years.

Brig. Gen. D. Peter Helmlinger, commander of the Corps’ Northwestern Division, who presided over the ceremony, commended Dietz for setting conditions for success in the district’s flood risk management systems and flood planning efforts. The work ultimately prevented significant flooding in downtown Walla Walla.

“The district prevented $280 million in flood damages in 2018 across the region. In 2019, that number rose to $408 million of damages prevented following February’s back-to-back 100-year rain events down the Walla Walla Basin,” Dietz said.

He is leaving for a new assignment at Camp Smith on Oahu, Hawaii. There he will serve as chief of engineering plans and operations and deputy engineer for Indo-Pacific command.

Childers will hold the title for two years. He most recently served as the deputy commander for the Corps’ Tulsa District in Oklahoma. He also served 17 years in the U.S. Army.

During his career, he served operational deployments for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 and 2008 and Operation Enduring Freedom in 2012.

His awards and decorations include the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign medals, the NATO Medal, two Bronze Star medals, four Meritorious Service Medal awards and numerous others.

He earned the Combat Action Badge and Parachutist Badge. He is also the recipient of the Bronze Order of de Fleury Medal from the Army Engineer Association.

He served as a battalion civil engineer in Iraq, providing lifesaving forest protection, mobility counter mobility, and life support to the units serving there.

When he moved to Fort Lewis, Washington, he commanded a sapper company or combat engineer formation. The combat mission set was focused on removing the improvised explosive device from the battlefield. He prepared that formation for deployment to Afghanistan, handed over command of that unit, and deployed alongside them.

He was responsible for coordinating the science, and the targeting and coordination of all government assets in the country for that end. He also prepared the Afghans to take over the mission.

“All those different jobs — the thing that really stands out, the common thread among them, is we’re stronger when we all coordinate together,” he said. “To be picked to command a unit, an 05 Lt. Col. command is the pinnacle of my career. It’s an incredible honor.”

“We have an organization of some 850 professionals. Many of them are degreed professionally — credentialed scientists, engineers, biologists, natural resource professionals doing an exceptional job at balancing our federal mission to provide multipurpose infrastructure and balance against environmental stewardship, minimize our impact on the environment.”

Childers said the Mill Creek Feasibility Study, designed to address flood risks from the channel that runs through the community, was set to be completed before his arrival.

Since Walla Walla had flooding in February, the Corps was compelled to take the real-time data from the historic event to make sure it matched with its models to incorporate the data.

He said the organization hopes to raise the study through the Corps and present it to the chief of engineers and then Congress about this time next year. This would lead to funding approval and the pre-engineer and design phase.

He said the organization is committed to protecting fish and all of the district’s natural resources and minimizing the impact of the infrastructure.

“Historically I think we spent anywhere between $25-60 million annually on protecting fish. And that’s all different types of measures — that’s fish ladders, that’s fish transportation, fish collection, fish stewardship,” Childers said.